How it started

[Coriander]

I think I began to have some transitory issues in my early 20's. Fatigue, pain and nerve issues but assumed it was normal wear and tear. A guy I was dating had himself tested for AIDS during an extreme bout of fatigue at I had at 24years of age. I got better and we went our separate ways.

That was about 1994 and no one considered MS least of all me. My mother died at age 35 of cancer so I kind of always thought something was wrong and I may not be built to last. I am 45 now and have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

[Teekybird]

Well, glad that you have found the group/website. When were you actually diagnosed?

[Coriander]

Diagnosed

I was diagnosed in 2008. I went to many different doctors for different issues over the years. I could not drive anymore unfortunately.

[Thinkimjob]

I had the great good fortune to have 12 quite good years, as promised, dmd or not. It was all there in a musty, dusty old book I found in my Aunty's second hand shop before I was diagnosed, from the early 1900s.
The book recommended knitting as a therapy, but offered no hope of a cure. Funnily enough, a century later, still kind of the same.
I knew I had MS, but I had hope, 'cos ten years still walking, well that meant it was benign.
Those days are over. Took the drugs, and it was no picnic early on, because I felt pretty darn good, and that Beta made me feel horrible.
And now, obviously progressive diseases progress.