A year? You have got to be kidding!

[wizardsmom6]

Hi friends, I was diagnosed in September. I have crazy mood swings and cry every day about having MS. After talking to different people with MS, the consensus is that it takes about a year to adjust to having MS emotionally. Has that been your experiences? I would really like some opinions on this....

Thanks in advance!

[Pipes123]

It took me about 18 months, but I suppose I am slow. ; )

This is similar to what they say about adjusting to the death of a spouse, a parent, a child... it takes approximately a year for the loss to not be overwhelming.

Hang in there.

[22cyclist]

To be completely honest with you, you might "get over" the initial diagnosis in a year, but MS is a degenerative diseases, and with each little piece of you it takes, you grieve. The process, and it is a process, is an up and down one. An anti-depressant helps a lot, and this from a person who didn't take one until 10 years in. Don't get me wrong, I needed one, just refused to give in. I am much better with one than without. The sky is no longer falling with each thing I loose, and I have lost a lot.

Try to keep things in perspective for now. This is how I do it anyway. Its a left over DBT therapy trick from when I have a stint with drug use. When you are upset and in the moment think about what is upsetting you and think about that issue on a scale of 0-100 (0 being nothing and 100 being nuclear war-your whole family was killed). Ask yourself "how bad is this?" Most days mine ends up being around about an 8 which is nothing on a scale of 100. You just have to change your way of thinking about it and not awfulize (that is a word) everything. The good news is you don't have ALS. The bad news is you do have MS. ALS 100, MS 25. You see what I am saying? It can be dealt with just by changing the way you look at it day by day.

I just use it when is am pi**ed about something, I take a deep breath, OK is this nuclear war bad, or just throw an ice cube bad. Usually its the latter. I throw them in the sink. Its cathartic, and gets my anger at everyone and everything out. I'd throw them outside lest the neighbors think I had lost my mind. It was bad enough they saw me that night out there in my PJ's and pocketbook locked out of the house in the rain when I had lost my mind during my depression. Did anyone ask me in? NO, but I digress.

Things will get better hon. I promise, I lived though it, still am. Laugh a lot. That helps. Watch funny TV shows. And after that, get up and do something MS told you you couldn't just to spite it.

Best of luck, we are pulling for you.
This too shall pass.
Lisa