I am often asked what symptoms lead to my diagnosis. Not much had changed apart from some blurred vision after about the two kilometre mark on a run. I monitored it and had my eyes tested at the end of 2021, there was nothing detected as being an issue with vision. I continued with life as we knew it.
2022 life continued as usual.
MS is so different for everyone, some have little or no symptoms; others have pain, bladder issues or worse. Some go to bed feeling fit and are unable to move the next morning. They say a lot of us can have MS in our system and it lays dormant for years and sometimes, (like mine) it is triggered by a virus and rears its ugly head.
Covid hit and I caught the virus early 2021. I did a half marathon with a friend in 2021, and it was hard!!! Like most of us, I had the vaccines. Following Covid I struggled... I assumed I had long covid. Running become harder and motivation was lacking for any physical activity.
The blurred vision continued, I noticed it at the gym and outdoors only when running. September 2022, I completed the 12km run at City-Bay. Usually at the last 1km mark some extraordinary burst of motivation hits and it's a race to the end! Not this time... at the 1km to the finish line I stopped dead, crossing the finish line upright become the biggest challenge. When I did finish, I remember Marcus saying, 'you looked rough'!! Recovery was quite quick. I was back to normal in minutes. But I knew something was seriously wrong.
First stop was a GP, we went through a series of testing - 24 hour heart monitor (also worn when running), an ECG, CT scan etc come back clear. So she referred me on to a a Cardiologist who also did testing and then booked me to do an eco-stress test in January 2023. I remember calling the GP and explained that this test was a waste of everyone's time, I requested a referral to a neurologist as I knew it wasn't my heart; it was my head The GP said I had to tick that box before I could be referred on. I went and had the test, the cardiologist said to the nurse 'her heart is fine', I had said the same thing to the nurse earlier in that appointment. Several weeks later I got in to a neurologist. The neurologist had quite a few tests for me to complete.
The first being an MRI, this come back with nothing out of the ordinary showing... this was a relief as I had convinced myself that I had a serious cancer and would be dead within six months. Thank goodness it wasn't that, but I still didn't have an ku answer. More bloods were done and a lumber puncture, I knew this wouldn't be pleasant, but I was given the indication that I would have a partial anesthesia and be asleep, which gave me some comfort. They told me it would be done under local... I cried. The thought of being awake terrified me. So much so that the doctor come and sat with me, I put on my big girl pants, and we continued with the procedure.
It was over quick enough, but there was a lot of blood! I spent hours in hospital post procedure. I received the results the following week in the neurologist's office with Marcus, as we’d done before. All clear - it was not cancer, it was not MS but we still didn't know what it was.
In the following week, all of my results were presented to a room full of neurologists at a monthly meeting they had, it was agreed that I do in fact have MS.
The neurologist called me to let me know , the diagnosis was given, and the bloods were clear.
Comments
Post a Comment