Hello - New to MS and these Boards

[AliCat]

Hi everyone. I am a 44 year old female living in Phoenix, AZ. I was diagnosed with MS in September 2014 after my primary care doctor referred me to a neurologist for a long list of seemingly random symptoms that I had been experiencing for about 6 months. Some of the symptoms have improved, but I am left with fatigue, muscle weakness and some vision and cognitive issues. I am thankful that I received a fairly quick diagnosis and began treatment within weeks. I am currently taking Tecfidera and have had very few side effects (mild nausea and loss of appetite during week 3).

I have found the information and support on these boards to be very helpful. I am sorry that anyone has to go through this, but it is nice to know that other people understand what I am experiencing.

[malaholic]

Hello AliCat and welcome! I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis but I'm glad you've found this forum. As a fellow newly-diagnosed person, I've found the forum to be a huge wealth of information and it is great to know there is support and understanding here!

I am glad you were able to get a quick diagnosis and it sounds like your primary doctor was on the ball to get you referred out to a neurologist tying together these random symptoms. My own PCP never took me seriously and chalked everything up to stress. It was actually my optometrist that believed me that something was wrong and finally got me referred to a neurologist.

I hope that your treatment on Tec continues to go well! I started on Copaxone and I'm hoping it will stabilize me, but I think Tec would be my next choice if this doesn't work.

[Kimba22]

Hi AliCat,

Welcome to MSWorld! We are glad you joined us, but sorry for the reason why. Although no one wants a MS diagnosis, it's good you found out what was wrong quickly so you could start Tecfidera. It's good to know you are tolerating it well, too.

Every Wednesday at 8 pm there is a chat in our chatroom hosted by MSWorld volunteers called "How can we help you?" There is also a lot of information in our Resource room. A book that gets recommended often is called MS for Dummies.

I hope you find this site both informative and supportive. It's comforting to know we can come here and find others who can help guide us though this journey.

Take care and I hope to see you around!

[22cyclist]

Hello AliCat: Sorry you had to join the club, but you are in good company here. Look around ask and answer questions, start your own threads, be sure to check out the chat rooms as well. We are all here for one another, glad to have another addition.

Take care
Lisa

[Plynn]

Welcome! I am fairly new here as well. It is a great place for support and information.
Pam

[freeinhou]

Welcome AliCat!

I'm sort of a veteran - dx'ed in 1987 at age 30 with rrms and really don't keep up with the MS thing. It's possible I'm SPMS but since I'm still mobile and functional I guess it doesn't really matter. In other words, not every story is bad.

No drugs for me. I went into the Betaseron lottery in 1993 and drew such a high number that I had a 15 month waiting list. I lost interest. I took Copaxone for all of 3 weeks in 2003 but I hate needles.

The only point I want to bring up is it's possible, really, that an MS dx is not the end of the world. I retired earlier this year from NASA - I was one of the mission managers for Shuttle and ISS and worked out of the Johnson Space Center, so MS has never been an impact on my professional life.

Tom