QUESTION FOR THOSE MORE EXPERIENCED

Hey Oliviasmom

Welcome to the board. I'm so sorry for u'r dx, but very glad u've found us. Let me start out saying i don't have ms. I did at one point think what was happening with me was ms, but have since decide it's not. That said, i can only answer u'r questions in third person. My best friend (who has ms) tells me that there is not really a 'back to u'r old self' time. It's more an accepting of where u are now and finding u'r new baseline. Meaning, u'r symptoms may never FULLY go away. They may, but chances are u'll have at least have a reminder of some symptom that is with u. My friends' symptom is almost constant vertigo. She has adjusted to it. She knows how to manage her walking and balance so as not to stop her moving about, but still it is there. So u find u'r new norm and u adjust to that and manage with that/those symptom(s) that now define u'r new norm. The fatigue can get better and in many cases does. If not on it's own, many people try medication for it. Most here seem to really like how Provigil performs. I tried it when i first started having probs....fatigue being one of my BIGGEST probs...and it did seem to do a lot of good.

Talk with u'r doc and ask him/her about something to help with the fatigue. There are others out there that may be equally as good or better for u. U may never feel fully strong in the same way u did prior to ms. U may still run out of steam at the end of the day, but u can at least regain some of u'r old self and not be so limited from the fatigue.

Take good care and, again, welcome to the board!

Hey Olivia, welcome to the board too from me... it's a great place for a lot of support, lots of answers and plenty of info!

I can honestly tell you that NO you'll never feel like the old you... you might have glimpses of feeling good again and it'll be exhilarating when that happens, so enjoy those moments as they may or may not last long.

The worst thing about MS is that it's an individual nightmare for every person. And because it's nerve related, it can vary a million different ways depending on how your body copes with it.

I've learned alot since my dx in March '08, but my symptoms have been going on for over 12 yrs. It just never all came together enough to get the attention of my PCP til '06 when finally she sent me to a neuro and it still took another 18mos to solidify his dx. Now it's a learning process of what's going on, how to cope with it, what to do, and when to do it.

Acceptance is very difficult, I found myself wanting the dx really bad to get an answer but then when I got it I actually started trying to figure out if maybe he was wrong after all and we missed something else! Good ol' denial. Since then, it's slowly settled in, and I'm just learning and coping. Day by day. The biggest thing for me that I've learned is not to "become my disease". Once that sunk in, I realized, Debbi's still all here... the body just has problems. :)

Hope this helps a little bit... looking forward to having you around!

Oliviasmom, we just might... :) if you're on the gulfcoast of florida near Tampabay, then we do :)

And we're near one of the best neuro's in the country for this dx. :)

Goodness gracious, same town! McElveen. At least I've been very happy with him, he's thorough, came highly recommended years ago for other stuff during a meningitis bout, and really put me thru the mill for this before finally saying this was it. I also like that he lets me "talk back" without taking offense and let's me seek a total understanding. (Now his partner you can do away with anytime, I'm not fond of him at all). :) And McElveen knows that. :)

Who do you use?

OMG, this is too funny! McElveen did my LP too but I'm a "leaker" and got the headache stuff... the LP though was the easiest I'd ever had!

I haven't met Sinclair, I got dealt Gonzalez for my Nerve Conduction Test, he came in kinda cocky about how 'small' my nerves were thru my legs to my feet "for a woman my age & size" (??? I'm not horribly over either) so that didn't set well right off the bat, and that they weren't reacting as quick as they should, then assumed I was diabetic, which is nowhere in my record and which I'm not. When I related it to McE, he laughed & smiled, commented "sometimes younger docs tend to jump before they get the whole picture... your nerves are like I expected for your symptoms." :)

It's a great office though, the gals are good about appts, & relating the issues like I had during the LP.

Whoa, 20 pokes? OMG!  You had to be a hard one... he checked me and was so late getting there and so flustered cos the office negleccted to tell him I was waiting at Blake for him... that he ran in, checked me, asked for a kit, was ready to do it in the little holding room when the nurse said,um, we've got you all set up already, McE says, just tell me where to go and let's get 'r done then! :) He's very good natured... but oh I leaked... then the confounded headached and all... but he was smooth as glass, got 4 tubes without a flinch! And I got a virus there... I have this zero immune system for some dang reason! (just like now, got back from the vacation and sore throat sinus setting in... confounded flight!)  But I love McE... I'll look forward to meeting Sinclair sometime... It's just an awesome office. Have you done any of their studies yet?

And hey, it'd be great to meet for lunch sometime... it's really cool catching each other here... too uncanny! Coulda already seen each other, like ships passing in the night! ;)

hey Gretchen haven't gotten it yet... but hey, Olivia's mom... my email envelope is available to mail here on the site... email me and yep, let's get in touch! Would love it... this is so wild... never managed to meet someone in the same place I live on the same board I visit... let alone the same drs office. Pretty cool!

LOL, thought I was the one running behind here, Gretchen! (Besides, slow down is not in my vocabulary - as I'm sure you've noticed) :) I always fear there'll be a day I'll be TOTALLY slowed down!

And yep, I'll be sure to post our happy meetings! I'm just so stunned we're in the same office!  But like I said before we are very fortunate, my neuro is the founder of the office and highly reputed, almost legendary with the nurses around here for what he accomplishes, his style, his research and just how he's like a pit bull on a hunk of raw meat about everything! (Says it's his Scottish stubborness). :) Thanks! Gretchen!