Newbie here!

[starfish3]

Hello! I am new to the site... I am 36 years old and I was just diagnosed with MS this week. I had a bout of extreme temperature sensitive on the lower right side of my body last fall, but I honestly thought it was stress-related and it went away before I had it checked out. I had no clue that it was a symptom of MS. Unfortunately, I had a sudden onset of numbness and tingling from the waist down while on vacation at Disney World in April (Happiest place on earth?). I saw an orthopedic surgeon for a suspected ruptured disk and unfortunately the MRI came back negative. I was referred to a neurologist who sent me for brain and c-spine MRIs. One lesion showed on the spine. A spinal tap confined the diagnosis.

I have gone through the various stages of anger and denial and fear the past few weeks. I think I am in a better place now that I have a confirmed diagnosis. Time to get on to dealing with it. I have a 3-day Solumedrol IV next week, followed up by a 12 days on prednisone. Hopefully, I will get the feeling back in my legs. Walking is a real chore right now. I'm a single mother of two young children, so there's not much time for rest!

I am really glad I found this board. This has been such an overwhelming process, both physically and emotionally. My next hurdle is choosing a medication ... Avonex or Betaseron? Those are the ones my doc recommended. Wow, there is SO much info out there. Just when I settle on one, I read something that makes me change my mind. The side effects sound awful.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself -- I'm off to dive in to reading posts!

[jimmylegs]

welcome starfish if you want to know anything about nutrition for ms let me know

[FLJhawk]

Hi, star,

Welcome and sorry to see you here! I use Beta and it isn't too bad. I like the fact it is easy to store and the needles are tiny so that, usually, you can barely feel it. The injections leave tiny pin pricks that seem to stay forever, but only occasionally do I get any reddish discolorations, which may last a couple of weeks before totally fading away.

Being a single mother of two will be difficult, but let's hope you have a near full remission and that diet and treatment will keep things at bay for many years. Be sure to research MS nutrition and diets (jimmylegs is an amazing source of info and help) and LDN.

Solumedrol can be tough. Try to have someone around to help with the kids as, for me, the treatment can really make me tired and fatigued after a few days, lasting for over a week. Taking the oral medicine after Solumedrol may help you come off of it, but I never asked to be tapered off as I simply wanted those steroids out of my system.

Anyway, take care and good luck.