Amy Wall
March 10th, 2008
I remember very clearly, it was Thanksgiving 1999 at my grandparents’ house when I first noticed my toes were numb. Over the next month, that numbness took over my right leg and crept into my left leg too. Looking back, I should have also noticed that I was tired all the time, losing my balance and misspeaking or jumbling my words – at the time I thought I was just tired and stressed from working two jobs. I would never have predicted that these seemingly unrelated symptoms would lead to almost a year of tests and a final diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
When I was diagnosed, I knew almost nothing about MS. My neurologist at the time told me that I would in all likelihood wind up in a wheelchair like Annette Funicello, not something a 25-year old wants to hear! I had five-year plans, ten-year plans, places to go, things I wanted to see and do – I did not want to be limited by a chronic illness that is hardly understood in the medical community, much less by employers, family members and friends.
The most frustrating thing about MS is that it presents itself in such a wide variety of ways in different people. A person can have successive attacks that leave them weaker and more disabled after each one, or your attacks can be few and far between and leave little to no disability. People often don’t believe that you are sick because you “look fine.” The hardest part for me was not knowing what was next and feeling powerless to stop the disease.
To stay ahead of my MS symptoms, I found a neurologist who specializes in MS and who had a better outlook on my possible outcome than the doctor who diagnosed me. After discussing my options with my neurologist, I decided to take a proactive approach and started on one of the biologic medications that have been approved to treat MS. I wanted to start early, before the disease had the opportunity to cause significant damage. The medication I selected offered the promise of reducing the frequency and severity of my MS attacks.
Today I am meeting and exceeding the goals I set for myself before my diagnosis. I owe a great deal to the medications that allow me the lifestyle I enjoy today. I married a wonderful man who doesn’t cringe at the responsibility of having to inject my medication for me (it is silly, but even after years on self-injectable meds, I am still a wus when it comes to needles). We welcomed our first child into the world in September of 2007 and I have a career that I love. When I can, I advocate for research dollars to go towards finding a cure for MS, as well as working to ensure people like me have access to MS treatments without formulary or coinsurance limitations.
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