So went to see the neuro today, good news is lesions are stable. Bad news is they are in the area of the brain responsible for memory so it's not the meds making my short term memory fizz out ... Was hopeful that I could blame them, but got shot down.

The other bad news is now in addition to the known MS its suspected that I may have RA or similar issue as well... Yippppeee (not). So needless to say there was more bad than good news with the visit, but at least the good news was great news, just the bad news might be a bit worse of news

besides the overactive bladder issues, I put short term memory loss as my number 2 worst Ms symptom. I hate it so bad and I hate you have to deal with it. Just the other day I was at the sub shop and she ask what will it be. I couldn't remember what I wanted... I literally stood there and looked at her like I didn't know where I was. She said that I usually get Italian...and i said yepp that's the one. My case is extra bad though... I have lots of trouble with that to the point I get very frustrated. I hope it doesn't get that bad for you.

Starz, congrats for the good news, and so sorry for the bad news. Hope
your RA Doc will help you to keep as symptom free as possible.

I, for one, think that when the Good Lord hands out MS, He shouldn't give us
other Diseases to handle, enough is enough. It doesn't always work that way.

I'm starting to think my siblings should be a bit more grateful for me lol, they're both getting to enjoy perfect health while I'm catching everything for them . About the only thing I'm actually really thankful for is that my grandmother and great-aunts aren't around to depress my mother though.

Apparently there's some "curse" according to my grandmother, that the 3rd child always dies. That would be me, child number three of this generation. And I'm sure my grandmother if she still was alive would be heaping the guilt onto my mother for giving birth to me, she and my great aunts were quite opposed to my mother having me, fearing she would be burying me. (Nevermind that she and my great-aunts still had more than two kids and sadly did bury each of their third children...)

So they would be having a field day just over the MS add RA to the mix and I don't even want to think about the 'joy' they'd have at thinking they were correct.

Thankfully my mother has pointed out to me that of us kids I'm her fighter, and God won't give me more than I can handle (I don't quite see why he has to push the limit on what I can handle lol) but it's thus far been proven correct. I've come so close to pulling a trigger, or slashing an artery, but still find myself waking up the next morning deciding its a new day and time to start the fight again. By Eistien's definition I clearly suffer from insanity.

Only one more thing that has to be sorted out aside from the RA is the vision issues I've been having. There's no signs on the MRI of optic necrosis, or any lesions that would be affecting the vision, but it also goes beyond the simple eye changes of middle aging. So after the rhuemtologist, it's off to the optometrist to figure out why my eyes can't track motion from forward to back and why the vision is acting like I'm a resident of a house of mirrors.

(Wonder if I should start sharpening the knives... God might have started hitting back a bit too hard.)

When I had Optic Neuritis, the MRI never was able to see a corresponding lesion. They just diagnosed it based on symptoms. Sometimes the MRI can't see the lesion, whether it's just not big enough to be seen on the MRI, or the MRI machine just isn't strong enough to detect it.

My ophthalmologist just had me wait out the symptoms. My vision got better. But I've had optic neuritis more than once. I've done the IV steroids twice for vision problems because it was bad enough those times to cause me some pretty serious problems. The Optic Neuritis Treatment Trial recommends that you do IV steroids for optic neuritis, because oral steroids for some reason can make you more susceptible to recurring episodes of optic neuritis.

hi starz,

just try to take one thing at a time, and one day at a time.
it helped me.

you're doing all the right things.