What the heck do I do now?

[Heather.Abenath]

I was diagnosed with MS the end of March this year. I have relapsing remitting MS or so they say. I'm going on 5 *** months! Im still living at my parents house because I cant safely be alone! I can't take care of my 18 month old! No working, or money in quite some time. The dizziness stinks! I'm just now able to walk some without an assistive device, but not well. Balance is still off and I laugh to myself because in my minds eye, I look like I have a traumatic brain injury. Geez. I am a physical therapist assistant. Would I want a therapist walking me or working on my balance if they physically looked like me? Heck no! What am I going to do?

[malaholic]

Hi Heather -

My current diagnosis is CIS with high risk for MS as I've only had one attack so far but had lesions in my brain MRI. But along with visual issues I was going through hellish dizziness & balance issues which sounds very similar to what you are experiencing right now. Even though I don't have the MS diagnosis just yet, my neuro offered to set up a 3-day course of IV steroids as are sometimes used to treat MS flare-ups. That treatment was a godsend for me. I didn't notice much difference after the first day but started feeling markedly better right after the 2nd treatment. Dipped back down just a bit but then slowly improved over the next several days after the treatment to the point where I was almost...not 100%, but almost...back to normal.

As far as side effects I did have some flushing but that's about it. It also made me more alert/awake after a dose, but given that I was unbelievably fatigued anyway that was a welcome side effect. It's been about a month now since I did the treatment and I'm still doing pretty well. Just a little bit of dizziness, especially if I didn't get enough sleep.

Anyway I'm sorry you are going through this, but it may be worth calling your neuro and explaining the situation and asking about steroid treatment. Not all neuros advise it and it's not something you want to do frequently, but it worked a miracle for me at a time when I wasn't functioning well at all.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!