My first symptom was in 1987.....and I was pregnant with child #2.

At the time I had no idea what was causing the numbness and dizziness. I just chalked it up to pregnancy.

Fast forward to 2003 and both my legs went numb. I could still walk but it felt like my legs were asleep. Pine and needles feeling.

I went to the doctor who said it was probably a pinched nerve but wanted me to make an appointment with a Rheumatologist just to rule out some things. By the time my appointment came around the numbness had resolved itself so I cancelled the appointment. Must have just been a pinched nerve.

Two years later (2005) I was driving back to work after having my eyes examined for new glasses. I didn't have my eyes dialated but my vision was all wonky....for lack of a better word to describe it. I noticed when I looked to my left things were doubled. So I just avoided looking to my left. I made it back to work but noticed all afternoon I had to keep closing my eyes tightly trying to get my vision back to normal.

I left work on time that day because I just didn't feel right. My vision was getting increasingly blurry and I had about 12 miles to drive to get home.

During the drive home my vision went completely double. I was petrified. By the grace of God I ended up behind an older gentleman who was traveling at about 30 mph (it was a 45 mph zone). I got right behind him and followed him closely until my street became visible.

I made a right onto my street and then a left into my driveway. Stumbled into the house and called my son who was still at work. I told him I was going to have to go to the eye doctor the very next morning (which was Saturday). I don't think he really realized how bad this all was.

Went to the eye doctor the next morning and they referred me to an opthoneurologist (?? not sure if this spelling is correct). I had an appointment for Monday afternoon.

I didn't want to stay home alone so I had DS drive me to work. I couldn't do anything but I wanted to be around people I knew.

My boss came in an immediately knew something was up. I told him I was going to get DS to take me to this new doctor but that I couldn't drive....I couldn't even walk by myself. My boss said he would take me which was a good idea because I really needed another adult to be there with me.

Off we went to this new eye doctor. They ordered an MRI and did lots of visual testing. I was told the MRI results would be back the following day. So, I waited.

Then I found out the doctor who ordered the MRI had gone on a two-week vacation and nobody else wanted to jump in at this point. I was going to have to wait!!!

When I told my boss all he said was "get your purse we're going to get the MRI results". And off we went.

When we got to the eye doctor's office he explained the situation to the receptionist and said we would be waiting until someone saw me and explained the results.

Lo and behold there was another doctor who could read the scans!!

He hemmed and hawed around without telling me the exact results. My boss spoke up and said "What's the verdict? What's causing the double vision?" The doctor said he wasn't 100% positive but thought it looked like MS. He referred me to a Neurologist that was in the same building. We went just across the hall to his office.

At this point I had about convinced myself I had a brain tumor.

I waited for what seemed an eternity to see the Neuro. He was a very nice man who told me I have MS. Now, knowing that I didn't have a brain tumor I was relieved. He wasn't used to seeing that kind of a reaction to what he considered bad news. I told him what I had already diagnosed myself with and he laughed and said "well, I can see why you're relieved".

That was the beginning. I still had my balance. Six months later when my vision had cleared up I could walk normally and felt pretty good.

It's 9 years later now and my balance is terrible, I have voluntarily stopped driving, I have spasticity in both legs but my most noticeable sx is my bad balance. I really do walk like I'm drunk. I haven't worked since 2008 and I'm now on SSDI.

I've been on Copaxone, Betaseron, LDN and now I'm taking Tecfidera.

Waiting for a cure but not holding my breath.....

Thanks Kelly. Did the same to my Doc when he gave me the bad news. I said whew,
could have been worse. He agreed, although shocked at my response.

I forgot to say that my DH passed away 4 years prior to my diagnosis. I'm not sure how he would have reacted to my disease. I'd like to think that he would have been supportive and caring. That's what I'm choosing to believe but I knew him better than anyone and I'm still, at this point, not sure how he would have reacted. And that makes me sad........

I remembered asking the neuro if I could still have kids after he told me that I have MS.

not sure just why I asked that. I hate children. Might have had something to do with having a boyfriend at the time, and not really knowing if I was going to change my mind about kids at some point. I don't think I ever have. Because I think that's one of the several reasons exboyfriend is my exboyfriend now. He wants kids. I'm not a fan of them, and I also don't know if I could be a good parent while being sick all the time.

LOL, I thought I was the only one that was initially relieved to be told I had spots in my brain that might be MS. I said "So it isn't cancer?" and the neuro said "nope." And I saw "Whew!" What strange emotions this disease puts us through...