Lorr,
{{{hugs}}} "began living MS" is such a powerful statement. It's not the best place to be but where you are in the diagnostic process its really the only place I could imagine you being.

I think you have to "live MS" for a while. Luckily, though, after a while it's not primary in your life. I've finally reached the point that I'm just a person with MS. I don't notice the concessions I have to make anymore. They just seem natural. I've quit fighting the MS and we live together peacefully now.

Good luck.

Karen

I too seemed to shut down and only be able to concentrate on my dx of MS in 2002...2003 I was undx'd with MS and since then have been told "we'll have to wait and see"...so in the meantime I'm living with "demyelinating disease w/chronic fatigue syndrome,PCOS,Mitral Valve Prolapse,& B-12 deficiency"...how's that for a mouthful. Isn't it ashame that I "look forward" to the day I get the dx of MS (if I do) so I can finally just say I have MS...so much easier to remember and to say. I do realize the feeling of the dx of MS after only one MRI...quite devistating...I think if I ever get the definitive Dx I will be much better prepared...but who knows what functions I'll have to lose before then.
Anyhoo...I guess at the moment, I'm just LIVING!

Geez, bear - When i was dx'd, it gave it a name but i didn't know it or understand it. I kept on working 'til it was too difficult. Daily struggles were evident but didn't slow me down too much. Damned if it was going to 'stop' my 'regular' life. My first time with a rollator showed me the impending progress. 2003 changed a lot. Then it was quite evident.

Hi Lorr - I seem to recall blaming every thing on MS - any twitch, just anything - takes some sorting through. Sometimes it realy is MS related - it's real evident for me because my feet don't come off the ground while I'm walking when the legs are tired. I think we have to live our lives the best we can while we have the energy and then when it leasev for the day, relax and re-charge.

i was very active and m.s. made me stop long before i was dx-ed.i just couldn't do it anymore.what my dx did for my was too give myself permission to not over do it.i miss working out and i'm now fat as a toad.but every time i feel up to starting a work out program it triggers a flair

Hi, Lorr

I really did have to live MS for a while, but the symptoms were so bad I did not have a choice. I was kinda in denial too for a while, especially because my family did not think I had it.
However I have lately been paying attention and learning a lot more. I am still active till I get knocked back. When I saw my old Neuro (before I changed)---she said "So you find yourself so consumed with the MS that you are finding it hard to function--" I said, "No I am having trouble functioning cause I can hardly freaking walk straight cause I have the MS, and I am really tired."
Geez---anyway, yes and no. I have been on both sides.

Hugz

when i was dxed in 1993 at the age of 23yrs old I was in sort of a denial period for 5 yrs..then in 2001 after the death of my father I went from r/r to chronic progressive so I had to admit to myself that I had something seriously wrong with me. Thanks to my huby constantly staying on my butt to get up and move I have stayed out of the w/chair which I went to after my dad died..the thought of "it's my body and i'm not going to hand it over easly" and also being stubborn and not going to let no college educated punk tell me what i can and can't do is what keeps me going and the thought that my huby won't let me give up