Long Journey to Diagnosis

WebMD Member Columns We asked readers of the Multiple Sclerosis newsletter to tell us about their lives with MS.

Hindsight Is 20/20 | Stories Shared | Order Out of Chaos | From Symptoms to Diagnosis | Attitude Is Everything | My Faith Is Strong | A Human Pincushion | Diagnosis in Just Months | A Better Perspective | A Glorious Task | Everything for a Reason | A Great Escape | We'll See What Happens | MS Is Not a Disability | Keep Your Head Up | Light at the End of the Tunnel | Retirement With a Twist | Coming to Terms With MS | Long Journey to Diagnosis | A Mountain of Strength

It's quite difficult to say exactly when my journey began regarding MS. Back in the late 1970s or early 1980s, I developed a strange sensation in the bottom of my feet. I referred to it as numbness.

I went to my doctor, who sent me for some tests and nothing showed up. So I attempted to just learn to live with it. The best way to describe the feeling is to say I always felt as though my socks were wadded up under my feet. I always felt as though I was a bit clumsy -- bumping into things and dropping things -- but never considered it to be a problem. Then two years ago, I began falling when I was trying to climb stairs.

I went to the doctor in January 2003 to more or less get acquainted with her, since she was taking over my doctor's practice who was retiring. I fell in the parking lot as I lifted my foot to reach the sidewalk and the nurses told the doctor about my fall. I felt as though my feet had become lazy and weren't reaching up high enough. But my doctor was suspicious and sent me for a multitude of tests.

She eventually sent me to a neurologist who also sent me for tests. From February to November, I was tested, X-rayed, probed, etc. Finally the neurologist sent me to a university hospital in Detroit for a second opinion. I was told that I probably did have MS. By this time, I was used to the idea and wasn't as devastated as I might have been. Since my symptoms are not severe, I am not on any medication. I have learned to exercise much caution while walking so as not to fall -- and I must confess I'm doing very well.

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