Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Support Group

This community is a place where members can discuss current events and weigh in on what's going on in the world.

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smathie2 03/22/2010

I will be graduating in April with a BSc in Neuroscience. Before I was diagnosed I had dreamed of getting my PhD in neuroscience. I love the implications of it.

Since being diagnosed I have changed my mind, I want to be in the position where I can say I get it. I know what you're going through sucks because I have been there as well (drug/alcohol addictions in my family, my dad had a major stroke when I was younger and I had to help teach him how to talk, I have been in a very abusive relationship, and I have witnessed my mom going through an abusive relationship, a good family friend was schizophrenic, after my parents were divorced we lived in poverty for several years and depression runs in my family plus I have had several surgeries for Crohn's disease and now MS).

I first looked at being a physiotherapist because the ones my dad had after his stroke spoke to him like he was a baby, not a 35 year old man who was mentally aware and when I went to physiotherapy after my diagnosis, the physiotherapists spoke around me, not to me, and used baby voices. Unfortunately... I am a liability because of MS so that's a no go.

After that I considered being a dietitian, but that wouldn't be much help if you didn't work in a nursing home or hospital.

So finally I have decided on being a social worker. First because I knew being a social worker got you a drug plan and you could get flexible hours, but now because I can actually help make a difference in someone's life because I have been there. I will be returning to school in the fall to get my Bachelor of Social Work degree and maybe or maybe not a masters degree in social work.

How has getting MS directly influenced your career path/goals?

Neener 03/25/2010

I have a masters degree and work at a large university as a counselor. I've worked in different areas during my career at the university. I currently work with students with disabilities. I meet with students and review testing and documentation from physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists and other specialists and then determine reasonable accommodations and services for students in the university setting. I enjoy what I do and the people I work with.

Neener 03/25/2010

Sorry I got distracted as I was answering the question and forgot your question :) yes ms did push me toward the career track that I am in now. I was directing a grant program which was much more stressful. My current job is low key for me and much better for my MS. I use to be one that was always applying for more and more responsibility, but as my MS has gotten worse I know that I just can't handle the stress. My masters is in business and I had a lot of great ambitions to start companies or run companies, etc. I was even going to go on and finish my Ph.D. , but after almost losing my vision while writing my masters thesis and then having another prolonged relapse shortly after turning it in I reconsidered.

smathie2 03/26/2010

Thank you for all of your great replies. It makes me nervous that I am turning 23 and everything that I had planned for myself has changed, but now it gives me a little more hope.

I feel now that I have been given some direction instead of just doing what I can do, doing what I want to do and something I feel that I would be good at doing.

deleted_user 03/26/2010

well I wanted to be a farm laborer for six months a year, a Pacific Ocean salmon fisherman 4 months of the year and the other 2 months of the year I wanted to pan for Gold...not going to get any of that done stuck in bed all day!...

alitax86 04/13/2010

Yep, after a while my career came to a halt....due to MS

LarryLDN 04/13/2010

Well, before MS there was a Speed Limit 75 sign; during the years leading up to the DX, the SL signs got lower and lower like reaching a city on the Interstate.

Then they became all those S curve signs with very low speed limits

Then a Red Light that was broken and never turned green again

deleted_user 04/13/2010

I was going to go into the medical field but since dx and last relapse, i am not doing anything im on unemployment i dont think i can handle working with the anxiety from haveing ms.

deleted_user 04/13/2010

i'm 47, been dx for 2 months and I'm looking at what I can do for the rest of my life. I haven't had a full time job for 16 years - I left to look after my baby. I've done some part time work and I'm half way through a community services certificate at TAFE college.

What's next? Go back to college, get certificate, keep writing. My writing and poetry are the things that truly add to my life, that and my family. Working for someone else doesn't seem that important any more.

I'm lucky that my husband earns enough money that I don't need to work, but extra money is always helpful!

So that's my story - still a work in progress, and subject to change without notice.

deleted_user 04/14/2010

Hi Larry yep that's MS for you Larry,,it's like getting to a new Large City with an outdated map and One Way streets and Dead ends everywhere...

deleted_user 04/19/2010

I'm a writer so I've always worked from home and since having children ( the youngest is 9) this has worked out well. Because I don't have to be anywhere by a particular time I can work around my fatigue or what ever might be troubling me on any given day.

deleted_user 04/19/2010

The bad economy did its part too, so MS wasn't acting alone. It partnered with the worst recession since the depression. More bang for the buck that way.

deleted_user 04/19/2010

I totally agree with Lynn. I was trying to hold on, but the demands that people were and are now making, the changes in hours and job desrciptions, it makes it really hard for those who are already ahving a tough time getting there every day. Seems like it rather weeded out those who were not the fittest. That coupled with the attempts to deunionize have made it really rough going for many.

deleted_user 04/19/2010

For me, I hated meetings and being in my office. I was the mgr that loved working on the floor, I loved being part of the sift, talking ot people, making sure my staff and guests had everything they needed. I always made my deadlines on all the spreadsheets and reports and surveys and all the other paperwork, but sometimes I was hitting send as the clock struck one minute before "you have to have this in now."

But I am getting to the point where researching things, sitting down, it is beginning to feel less like I am not doing anything. So maybe I will yet find something to do. Day to day, well, life happens and right now i have a plateful, but when this is done, I just don't know. I try not to look at it this way...but hte rest of my life not working? Hard to grasp.

deleted_user 04/19/2010

i am completely jealous of you sarahinoz. I lost my ability to read and write a couple of years ago. I CAN read but I have to read word by word and go very slowly and often the concept is lost by the time I get the words into my head.

Losing my ability to write was heart breaking. I keep trying, hoping it will come back.

xaviermom74 04/19/2010

I have been a social worker for 13 years now. Not masters level, I am working on that now. I have clients who come to me for counseling and guidance from my job experience. 7 years with children services dealing with abuse/neglect and foster care 4 years as a health dept social worker working with teen mothers and 2 years as a school social worker working with minority population to increase score and parental involvement. Very busy involved work. Not ms friendly.

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