MonSter School 101: Newly Diagnosed
So, you’ve been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. You’re scared, confused, and probably panicky, which is understandable.
In my case, I had NO IDEA what multiple sclerosis meant. Was that the Jerry Lewis phone marathon thingy I remember interrupting television watching? Didn’t some guy named Lou Gehrig have that?
Talk about starting from ground zero!
I was diagnosed six months after giving birth to my only child. I was 41 years old. The emergency room doctors initially treated my symptoms as a stroke. After being admitted to the reputable teaching hospital nearby, I was prodded, pinched, probed, and basically treated as a glorified science project.
In retrospect, that is an accurate description of the MonSter. Years later, I am still a science project and probably will always be.
Multiple sclerosis is a condition of the central nervous system (CNS) that affects the brain, optic nerve, and spinal cord.
According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS is an autoimmune disease, which means that your body is basically attacking the protective nerve covering (myelin) which in turn interrupts communication between the brain and the body. The result? Permanent nerve damage.
