It isn't always MS

Hi all -

I was diagnosed with MS in 2008, after living with it for easily ten years before diagnosis. I assumed I was out of shape when my legs would ache, or that I was low on Vitamin B. Didn't help being a nurse. I can diagnose myself quicker than you can say "wrong!" I DID, however, diagnose my MS and was right, unfortunately.

But now it's a sneaky thing, this MS. My legs go into spasm when I walk. "Oh well," I told myself, "I guess I'll have to look at scooters." Cheerily I start researching the really fast ones, with the flags and the headlights, planning to speed around if I have to use one. I buy a car that has room to put a scooter or wheelchair in. "Plan for the worst, hope for the best," I figure.

Well, the pain in my knees was severe osteoarthritis, masked by MS numbness. A few years later, bionic knees. No scooter. I was kind of disappointed.

The legs started bothering me again lately, shooting pains. Turns out that wasn't MS either, but a few bones out of joint because I had been walking with a limp for years. Pinched nerves, not spots in my spine. Fixing that now.

Have the urinary problems, found out I had a UTI, then that I am ever so slightly diabetic. Explains some of my fatigue and blurred vision, too.

Personally, I figure that if I have MS, I should get a "get out of jail free" card for all other diseases. Apparently this isn't so. In one way, it's a bit reassuring. The MS, which I can't do much about (other than the drugs, healthy eating, exercise, rest, etc), isn't getting worse at the rate that I thought. The things I CAN do something about (like the diabetes, the posture, the excess weight) - they are the bigger problems at present.

Of course, in another way, it's discouraging. So much work ahead. When I could be screaming around the countryside, mowing over dandelions in my all terrain scooter!