I had several friends simply drop off the radar pretty quickly. Those were the ones that counted on me to hold their hands, and mop their brow, thru the hardest of days. Those tended to be the fragile ones. The easily depressed crowd. The "why me" folks. Some even took my MS personally! "why does everyone I love get sick?!" eeek!

there were other friends who backed off in order to give me room to do what I needed to do. These are the same things folks do when you have cancer. They just go live their lives, and hope that some day you can be back in their circle. They dont see that I can still be there, just not the same person.

At least those two groups are honest. they cant handle a sick friend in their lives. Either they are too fragile themselves or they are too busy, and self absorbed to carry any more weight. and yes, sick friends are heavy.

its those friends that wont let go, and wont let me just have MS that are making me insane. Nothing is off limits. MS is different. you WONT cure MS! Sure we are all hoping for a cure, but as of this moment, one doesnt exisit.I have enough doctors! I dont need any more arm chair med school students in my circle.

I just want a friend who drops by to go shopping say "Hey! you look great today, but how do you feel?

How about letting the person with the disease lead the way!

its sad because I feel my circle shrinking yet again. These were hard core friends, or so I thought. I just dont seem to be able to get the world to understand. I AM trying! If a world of MS specialists cant cure MS, well...maybe the extra added stress of everyone constantly wanting me to keep trying things is making me worse! GO AWAY NOW! If you cant be helpful, then you are hurtful.

I am tired of having to hurt peoples feelings when I say "LOOK! enough! stop asking me to try things! just sit and be my friend, not my dietician." they walk away blaming my disease for making me short tempered, or my disease for giving me such cognitive dysfunction that I can listen to the advice that may save my life! its not that they were a bad friend, its that I am a bad patient. at least that is the way some of them are trying to make me feel. As if today was just a bad day, and I need the lecture repeated tomorrow, or next week, or next month.

I love when they approach my DH later on to say how "grouchy" I am. He is good, he says "she is tired of folks trying to give her quick fixes! she just wanted a visit from a friend, she didnt need the lecture." of course, they get defensive and want to hold tight to their cure of the day.

How many of you have been given articles on this blocked neck vein lately? My in box is full of "congratulations! its a cure!"

Yes! my MD is positive I have MS! its not a gluten issue. Its not Lupus, or Lyme, or whatever your second cousins next door neighbors aunt had 20 years ago that stumped the MDs. its MS! I have passed all the tests. Its clear cut, no mistake, and it wasnt a blind guess on the MDs part. No one is gonna waltz into the room and go "oops! sorry." They make careful sure its MS before they will even nod in your direction. They can and do keep folks on limbo island for years! They wouldnt call me off unless they were sure.

I think I am just sad to lose more friends. I have 5 on the chopping block this month. I have had enough, and they are not getting the message. Good people, but they just dont get it. MS has taken so much from me, I hate to see it take more.