My experiences with MS so far......
If someone had told me 8 years ago that I would end up suffering with Multiple Sclerosis I would have laughed at them and said that they must be joking. In 1996 I was very active, playing squash, occasional trips to the gym and training in the art of Jujitsu.
However, that all began to change. I started to feel unsteady coming out of a forward roll when doing Jujitsu. I could only manage to play one game of squash before loosing all coordination. But these feelings were all gone in a matter of minutes. I paid no attention to them until one day in June 2000 I started to have double vision. As a bus driver this meant time off work. What began as a week sick note turned into three months. By this time I was getting a little upset with my doctor. Why cant he find out what’s wrong with me? Eventually I was referred to a neurologist. For me to see a neurologist on the National Health Service would have meant a year’s wait. So in August of 2000 my wife, Liz, and I decided to go and see the neurologist privately. After an initial consultation, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan and another consultation to discuss the findings, I was told I had Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
So what now???
Friends mainly keep asking me two things…… what is Multiple Sclerosis (MS)? And how do I feel?
How I personally feel is a little harder to put down on paper.
It’s a mixture of fear of what the future may bring and anger at the NHS for not allowing me access to the only drug, Beta Interferon, that could make a difference to my life. Now, 4 years after diagnosis, I have finally got the Interferon but at the price of my mobility. What about now???????????? Well all I can do is keep happy and look forward to the future. Things have changed for me. I no longer work and now do voluntary work for the MS Society.
Five years ago my outlook on life was totally different having the attitude that most of us have at some point, that it will never happen to me! Over the past few years I have had problems with my hearing, problems walking unaided and no feeling in my right hand but the support I've have gained from my close friends and the MS Society and friends I have made at meetings I run has kept me happy to be alive.
For me, I now have the most important person in my life to think about, my son. No time to think of what has happened or may happen in the future.
I sit on the committee for the Colchester branch of the MS Society now. I also run this get together club for us younger people to meet others affected by MS.
On Thursday 7th April 2005, I decided to stop taking Rebif, interferon 1a, as it was making me feel so c**p the day after. After seeing my neurologist on the 26th April 2005, he advised me that he would not be putting me on any of the other interferon's...........
So I'm on my own again with regard to treatment..... And thats not the only thing I'm on my own with... My wife then decided to have an affair, so I devorced her! Now, on my own, no wife, no interferon, I think I'll give this LDN a go:-)
Today, Saturday 03 September 2005, I received a letter advising me that I have been successful in my application to sit on the regional committee.........Herts and Essex look out;-)
