Wow, that is just what I needed to hear. I'm sorry your going through so much, you are a strong person and I can say your an inspiration to all of us.
Hugs
Wobbly
You are one of my favorites Wobbly
Alex
Alex touches on a very important part of the MS experience, the emotional part. For many, hearing that we have an incurable disease attacking our central nervous system is overwhelming.
One way to approach the news is to ewquate it to the grieving process following the loss of a loved one. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross defined 5 stages of the grieving process (https://www.hdsa.org/images/content/1/3/13080.pdf).
I saw a therapist for a year after I was diagnosed. We worked through the stages and I emerged in a much better state, both in terms of my disease and my life in general.
Nothing (yet) is going to make my MS go away, but I have been able to put it in the proper emotional place :-)
Kyle
You have put it into perspective, Alex, very well. I might add that Elisabeth Kubler-Ross mentioned that they do not have to appear in order, and can return. I, for one, often go thru denial, especially when I've had a good 6 months run of no problems. I look at my "wad" of pills (I being one who didn't want to take pills) and feeling great, wonder why I am taking them, why can't I just put them up until I need them, and my medical background tells me, they probably help me stay this way.
I have the hardest time explaining the waxing and waning of my symptoms to friends and family, who still don't understand it. When I am well, they think I am on the way to "cured". Alex is my hero, when I am feeling sorry for myself, I think back to all the personal and emotional thoughts she has shared with us over the years and know that my life could be much, much worse.
Her plate is full and yet she is such a graceful lady and living life to the fullest. When I have questions and am struggling with dog training, she is always there for me.
She is an angel who walks among us, providing inspiration. And yes, we have a wonderful group of well versed people here who help others with their new diagnosis and offering suggestions on how we each handle it.
This forum is the main reason I am doing well. I was a mess when I joined.
Alex
And you are helping some of the rest of us become less of a mess than we already feel, so thank you!
Karen
HI Alex,
Thank you for sharing with us. I too get a lot of strength from your posts. You are an amazing woman.
HUGS, barb
As always, thank you Alex for sharing your story, your emotions and your reality with us. I especially like that you have tried to emphasize a point that shadowsister DJ always tells me - our experiences with MS are different than the next person and they also need to be validated. Just because someone else appears to have so much worse going on, doesn't lessen our own reality of troubles living with a chronic disease. We may not be traveling on the same path but we are at least on parallel journeys.
Alex, Continue to stay in the moment and keep reminding all of us how good life can be if we stop letting the obstacles in our thinking keep it otherwise.
hugs, Laura
I thank you, too, Alex. Thank you for being here... I believe(know) that there are others you are helping that you will never hear or see.
You have had an amazing journey and it sounds like you are keeping it amazing. An *active bucket list!
I guess I am one of the :lucky"ones I was diagnosed very quickly and aside from severe fatigue have been very lucky......hold onto last comment i went into a relapse and i ended up in emerg, i can't explain the pain other than i think my left leg is giving birth, i seem to have the worst most paifull contractions every two minutes.After the emerg visit they did give me some pills that offer comfort and hopefully have enough of them to cover this relapse, your write up was good, once in a while we needto be reminded we are not alone
I really needed to read this. I haven't really dealt with it. I'm sitting here bawling just reading this. I've gained 40 lbs, that's how I've dealt with it, obviously. None of my family or friends want to hear about it. Anytime I bring up a pain or sensation that is out of the ordinary, I get eye rolls or change of subject, or a "yeah! I have that too sometimes!" I don't know why, but that is so frustrating to me. So I shut up and eat. I probably should see a psychiatrist.
Wow, Alex, that was a powerful posting. You know how I feel about you,and how you shine, even in the middle of the storms/ hurricanes, tornadoes, and gale force winds. ... it has been a lot, and you are an inspiration for us all.
I only wish I could get up and do something like you. I wish for my son to accept my dx and come back to the family.
I know about the talking about the MS, and how if effects each of our lives, every moment of the day, and even lots of night hours too. When people say, " ooh for heaven's sake, just get over it" well, that is when I think of you, and your comment about having people worse off than you, and I sure have seen that in my life, people who have now left this earth, and when I walked out of the Hospice, I took a deep breath and realized just how "lucky" I actually am.
So, I get it, in Canada, we have a psychiatrist at the MS clinic in one of our major hospitals , so when you go there to see the Neuro's, you have to see the "shrink" , and I actually love it, as so many things have been going on in my life that isn't just my health, it is so nice to have someone to bounce stuff off to.
Good luck, and chin up, we are all here for you,
Candy
Alex, I think your post will help more people than you'll ever know.