The months after diagnosis are rocky, because you're usually diagnosed right in the middle of a flare, or right after one. The recovery from a flare takes a few months, so it'll take a while before you can start seeing what it feels like to be in a flare, versus being in remission.
Welcome to our MS forum, Zoey.
You'll have a lot of things to get used to, including symptoms, and this is a great place to learn and to make friends. We here do understand.
An exacerbation, also called a flare-up or an MS attack, will involve either new symptoms or symptoms you haven't had in a good while. The disease- modifying MS drugs are designed to make these occasions as far apart as possible, though they are far from perfect. I hope you will be starting one of them soon.
Most of us also have ongoing symptoms on a daily basis, some of which are treated with various types of drugs (not the DMDs). This is because the remissions between relapses are not complete, and a new baseline seems to form. We learn to live with this, and get lots of help with one another to minimize the disruption in our lives.
Please take a look at our Health Pages (see upper right of screen) for lots more information.
Hope to see you here often.
ess
i wish i knew too. i really cannot tell anymore. i will say this, that some times i haves days that feel like i died and went to Heaven. that is to say, i felt like a young man with energy, clear mind, no pain, no body tightness, etc.
those are days i make my mental comparisons to. yet, i have no idea what brings those days on and if in fact they are related to my condition(s).
that is about all i can add to your question