New and need some help sifting through this new world

[Raygurl]

Hi there.

This is my first post of many I assume, and I am finding this all very overwhelming. I was diagnosed with ms a couple months ago but as of Monday it was official.

I am currently getting ready to start Copaxone and just wonder if anyone has any helpfull info.

I was also wondering if there were any tips and tricks to start out. There is so much information and I am finding taking it all I a little much. Any short form help well would help.

Also one other weird question. What is a lot of lesions? I currently have 14 3 grew and a new 2 popped up in month is that scary?

Just a relapser in need of some help.

Don't know if I am doing this right but would like to talk to some peeps who actually know what I am going through

Raygurl

[NHE]

This is my first post of many I assume, and I am finding this all very overwhelming. I was diagnosed with ms a couple months ago but as of Monday it was official.

I am currently getting ready to start Copaxone and just wonder if anyone has any helpfull info.

I was also wondering if there were any tips and tricks to start out. There is so much information and I am finding taking it all I a little much. Any short form help well would help.

Also one other weird question. What is a lot of lesions? I currently have 14 3 grew and a new 2 popped up in month is that scary?

Welcome to ThisIsMS. Regarding Copaxone, I suggest reading through some of the posts on the Copaxone forum. http://www.thisisms.com/forum/copaxone-f4/ This post might be a good one to start with... http://www.thisisms.com/forum/copaxone- ... c4405.html

Regarding lesions, they tend to come and go over time without symptoms. Here's a time lapse video that covers a one year period for a man with relapse remitting MS that experienced no clinical symptoms. http://www.msdiscovery.org/news/news_sy ... -meets-eye

[ElliotB]

Diet (pick a MS diet that you are comfortable with), regular daily exercise, nutritional supplements and lifestyle change (elimination of all stresses from your life) can all help - every case is different.

You can have symptoms without lesions and lesions without symptoms. So the additional lesions may or may not be of concern. Again, every case is different.

[Raygurl]

Thank you for the help. I have been doing a lot more reading. I know I don't quite understand the whole symptoms thing as I swear I have been cycling through crappy flares now for a couple of months. I believe from what I've read the Copaxone will not treat these but prevent them from in the future. Just need to figure out the don't stress thing as I don't think it's helping at all.

[Scott1]

Hi,

When you understand "the whole symptom thing", tell us! There are a lot of variations.

If you can focus on leading as normal life as possible and try not to lump everything into the box called MS it will help. Diet, exercise, massage and supplements can all help. It isn't necessarily about blockbuster drug treatments.
Ultimately you know yourself better than anyone else so you should always ask the question "does doing this help". If it doesn't then look again at the choices.

Feel free to ask questions. You will get many, many different answers.

Here's my contribution but it will take a while to understand the language. http://www.thisisms.com/forum/regimens- ... 24019.html

Regards,

[daverestonvirginia]

Good luck, you are not alone, plenty of us out there who still do not understand the relationship between lesions and symptoms. Some people have lots of lesions with little symptoms, some have few lesions with lots of symptoms. That is one of the things which makes MS so interesting.

As someone who was diagnosed over ten years ago who works full time in a stressful job and has an active family, sometimes it is not so easy to reduce stress. I found since I can't reduce stress from work and family I have added prayer and meditation to my daily routine.

Doing great 10 plus years, copaxone, Best Bet Diet, vitamin D and exercise. Dave