Hello from Maryland
Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:10 am
Hi everybody.
Just lurking around the site and decided it was time to jump in. First an introduction: I am 28 years old, married with one child and another on the way. I was diagnosed in December 2004 (Merry Christmas, right) immediately following a bout of retrobulbar neuritis. After obsessing over a journal and wracking my brain, I think I actually had my first symptom a little while ago in the form of vertigo... not too sure.
This is liberating for me for two different reasons. First, I've been doing a lot of writing to vent my thoughts and feelings... works sort of, but in the end I know no one is there to receive the message. Family and friends (and there are plenty) try to be supportive. They always ask about me, and I know they care, but I can't shake the feeling that they don't TRULY want to know... you can see it on their faces and in how quickly they head you off at the pass by changing the subject to something along the lines of "stay positive." I understand that I'm part of the problem in that I never complain and do my best to mask any problems, so everyone thinks "situation normal." But I know otherwise simply because my every waking thought is about my diagnosis and how I fear it will obliterate the way of life I've always expected and ultimately took for granted... 'nuff of the melodrama.
The second thing about this site that's so liberating is that you guys are opening my eyes to things I've never even heard of. I thought I'd done so much research, yet every posting mentions something new. My understanding was that I had just a handful of choices: interferons, copaxone, tysabri, or caution-to-the-wind roll the dice.
Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself. I'll try not to turn this into my own personal confessional.
Just lurking around the site and decided it was time to jump in. First an introduction: I am 28 years old, married with one child and another on the way. I was diagnosed in December 2004 (Merry Christmas, right) immediately following a bout of retrobulbar neuritis. After obsessing over a journal and wracking my brain, I think I actually had my first symptom a little while ago in the form of vertigo... not too sure.
This is liberating for me for two different reasons. First, I've been doing a lot of writing to vent my thoughts and feelings... works sort of, but in the end I know no one is there to receive the message. Family and friends (and there are plenty) try to be supportive. They always ask about me, and I know they care, but I can't shake the feeling that they don't TRULY want to know... you can see it on their faces and in how quickly they head you off at the pass by changing the subject to something along the lines of "stay positive." I understand that I'm part of the problem in that I never complain and do my best to mask any problems, so everyone thinks "situation normal." But I know otherwise simply because my every waking thought is about my diagnosis and how I fear it will obliterate the way of life I've always expected and ultimately took for granted... 'nuff of the melodrama.
The second thing about this site that's so liberating is that you guys are opening my eyes to things I've never even heard of. I thought I'd done so much research, yet every posting mentions something new. My understanding was that I had just a handful of choices: interferons, copaxone, tysabri, or caution-to-the-wind roll the dice.
Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself. I'll try not to turn this into my own personal confessional.
