You just walked out of your neurologist office after receiving the devastating news that you have Multiple Sclerosis. What now?
This is when you need to make some very big decisions and some very important lifestyle changes. Most of us loose control at this stage, but I am going to try and give you choices you are now presented with, and exactly what you should and should not do. There is a couple of ways to make this all the more bearable for you, and could also help you in your life ahead. Note that, I say your life ahead, as this is not the end of your life but the beginning of a new chapter in your life. What you do from now on will determine the rest of your life. You are likely to go through the certain stage emotional feelings and thoughts that most of us go through after our diagnosis.
The first of these stages is denial and it happens to all of us, and certainly after the recovery of your first relapse. You are now over your relapse and you feel fine and you are likely to feel normal again. “I feel fine, the Doctors could be wrong I don’t have Ms”. In about 5% of the entire patients this is certainly true, but a good neurologist will not diagnose you after meeting the criteria for Multiple Sclerosis. In certain patient you do get what is known as Clinical Isolated Syndrome in other words you only have one attack in your entire life and the symptoms disappear for ever. This diagnosis will only be given if you do not meet all the criteria of multiple sclerosis and most case you do not present with a second attack. But in 95% of all cases the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is definite and no matter how you try to deny it you still have Multiple Sclerosis. The first thing you should do is not to dwell on this point to long; because the sooner you accept you have Multiple sclerosis the better it will be for you.
The next step is to get all the info you can get on Multiple Sclerosis out there. Be careful in this selection of reading material on the subject. The internet is probably in my opinion the worst place to get first time information on Multiple Sclerosis. There are so many false promises and hopes being published on it, unless you can get it from a recognised organisation out there. The best place to get this information is at the local chapter of a Multiple Sclerosis society. They have been around for many years and have lot of credible information on Multiple Sclerosis. If there is not a chapter near you, write to one.
They will be more than willing to send you the information. Read through all this material and digest it all. This info will guide you through the rest of your life. Once you have informed yourself on the basic facts on multiple sclerosis it would be safe to get on the internet. Join a support page and get some friends on it. But be very careful of opportunist out there. Multiple sclerosis is a disease that is fear driven, and a lot falls in the trap of trying to find a miracle cure out there. 99% of these operators have one thing in common, and that is to get you in their trap and use their powers of persuasion to follow their so called cure. Guide yourself by recognised societies information, and for the better part avoid all the so called cures. Do not let yourself be fooled into believing all that is on the internet. We live in an era with very modern and fast spreading information out there, and this is called the World Wide Web. It has it positive side, but it also has a very negative side to it. Avoid the pitfalls on the internet as this will lead you to false hope in most cases.