new and a little scared

[davidh]

im a 28 year old male from cincinnati. in september 2010, i lost vision in my right eye. i ignored the problem for 24 hours. it started to get really annoying, and i mentioned it to my mom over the phone, and she freaked out (as mothers often do) and told me to meet her at the cincinnati eye institute. testing there yielded no results, so i was sent to university hospital at the university of cincinnati. after hours of testing, i finally got an MRI. shortly thereafter, a doctor i had never seen before casually walked in and stated "ok, the results show multiple sclerosis. somebody else will be in shortly" and immediately left my family and I sitting alone for an hour. I finally was given an outpatient steroid treatment and sent home with an appointment to see a neurologist the next day. we discussed treatment, and i continued receiving outpatient steroid treatment for a week. my vision is back to about 85%. i havent started any medication, or been back to the doctor, i suppose due to denial. i guess its easier to not think about it. i just kept working and riding my bike and living my life.

but i can't ignore it forever, i suppose, so today i scheduled another appointment with the neurologist and found this website. im engaged to an amazing girl (she proposed when we came home from the diagnosis and said she wanted to promise she'd be with me through all of this) and its not fair to put her through extra stress by not doing what i need to do to take care of myself.

i guess due to putting these things off the way that i did, its kind of hitting me all over again as i start to make the steps forward i should have made in september. so i suspect i'll be on here pretty regularly as all the questions of being newly diagnosed emerge.

[futurmil2b]

Denial

im a 28 year old male from cincinnati. in september 2010, i lost vision in my right eye. i ignored the problem for 24 hours. it started to get really annoying, and i mentioned it to my mom over the phone, and she freaked out (as mothers often do) and told me to meet her at the cincinnati eye institute. testing there yielded no results, so i was sent to university hospital at the university of cincinnati. after hours of testing, i finally got an MRI. shortly thereafter, a doctor i had never seen before casually walked in and stated "ok, the results show multiple sclerosis. somebody else will be in shortly" and immediately left my family and I sitting alone for an hour. I finally was given an outpatient steroid treatment and sent home with an appointment to see a neurologist the next day. we discussed treatment, and i continued receiving outpatient steroid treatment for a week. my vision is back to about 85%. i havent started any medication, or been back to the doctor, i suppose due to denial. i guess its easier to not think about it. i just kept working and riding my bike and living my life.

but i can't ignore it forever, i suppose, so today i scheduled another appointment with the neurologist and found this website. im engaged to an amazing girl (she proposed when we came home from the diagnosis and said she wanted to promise she'd be with me through all of this) and its not fair to put her through extra stress by not doing what i need to do to take care of myself.

i guess due to putting these things off the way that i did, its kind of hitting me all over again as i start to make the steps forward i should have made in september. so i suspect i'll be on here pretty regularly as all the questions of being newly diagnosed emerge.

Hi David,
I can relate to being in denial.. I was recently diagnosed with MS (Feb 2011) but I truly do not think I have it...

Jay

[davidh]

really, if it weren't for my fiance i still don't know that i'd be doing anything about it. but if she's commited to being with me, the least i can do is take care of myself and make it as easy as possible.

[KoKo]

Hello davidh

Welcome - nice to meet you!

Congratulations on your engagement. She sounds like a wonderful person!

i havent started any medication, or been back to the doctor, i suppose due to denial. i guess its easier to not think about it. i just kept working and riding my bike and living my life.

but i can't ignore it forever, i suppose, so today i scheduled another appointment with the neurologist and found this website. im engaged to an amazing girl (she proposed when we came home from the diagnosis and said she wanted to promise she'd be with me through all of this) and its not fair to put her through extra stress by not doing what i need to do to take care of myself.

i guess due to putting these things off the way that i did, its kind of hitting me all over again as i start to make the steps forward i should have made in september. so i suspect i'll be on here pretty regularly as all the questions of being newly diagnosed emerge.

Don't be too hard on yourself for going on with your life and being in some denial. Sounds like you were doing well after your eye incident, working, riding your bike, etc. Try not to be too concerned with the "should haves". You can't go back, so might as well just move forward.

Feel free to ask questions and share your experiences here. We'll do our best to help.

Good luck at your appointment. Let us know how you're doing.

Looking forward to seeing you around!

Take care,
KoKo

[hunterd]

WELCOME david!!!!!!!! that girl is a "keeper"!!!!! proposing after your dx just shows how commited she is! quit worrying about the future (easy for me to say), you can`t stop it or change it. do everything you can to maintain, for her sake if nothing else.
i ignored it too, so i know where you`re coming from. out of site, out of mind. good luck.

dave

[emaloneywiese]

David- MS is a drag and there is no way around it. Some people will never get understand and others will - being strong, thick skinned helps but it's hard. Find a doctor that you have confidence in and if you don't - change. Cincinatti should have a few to choose from. I arrogantly thought MS had run it's course and have been really hit in the past 22 months. It's a chronic progressive disease and hopefully you will not have to deal with it too much. There seems to be a link between Lupus and MS so some drugs are not tolerated - don't think your symptoms are because you are a wimp or don't have a positive attitude. I started Gilenya two weeks ago - right now I'm being patient and going to give it 6 months. Try to live your life and focus on that but don't ignore the MS - because you can't. Good luck!

[opiegirl]

Hey David, Welcome to the site, I am new too. I have had MS for 20 years and one of the first symptoms for me was optic neuritis in my right eye. It slowly came back, but still isn't 100%. I also had double vision about 10 years later that lasted 6 weeks and then was gone one day. My symptoms have been manageable over the years until recently my left leg has been giving me trouble. So after 20 years I will be starting either Tysabri or Gilenya soon, I don't regret not doing it earlier, but everyone is different. I also had just met my husband after I was diagnosed. I was afraid to tell him, but of course knew I had to when things started getting serious. I am happy to say we will be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary this summer and he has been my biggest supporter! I wish you the best of luck!