Here's where I tell more about my Multiple Sclerosis.  I hope that by sharing my story I am able to help others that suffered like I did.

I had just started going to a new medical practice with several physicians. The first resident doctor I went to was just as unsupportive as my co-workers. She told me to take aspirin for 30 days and if the symptoms didn’t subside come back! The next day I still had the same symptoms and I was starting to stutter. I was having a difficult time formulating a thought into a sentence. I was dropping everything because either I couldn't sense how tightly I was gripping or my hand would just let the object go. I went to the emergency room at the hospital where I worked and was again sent away with a CAT scan that didn’t show anything. I think the doctors there may have overlooked my condition because they though I might have had a spinal injury from having fallen while rollerblading several weeks before. I didn’t meet their “expectations” because although my legs were numb, I could still feel a poke or rub on my feet and legs.

My trips to the doctor’s office continued with almost ridiculous, unacceptable responses to my symptoms. Finally I contacted a close friend who is also a doctor and talked to him about my symptoms. He advised me to go back to the doctor’s office and demand a full spinal MRI. With my aunt in tow (I needed someone with me by this point for back up; I was really being treated like I was looking for attention, not just answers to the situation), I went back to the same office I asked for the attending doctor on staff; he very reluctantly ordered a low back MRI. I was so fed up and angry at that point that I decided that day to call my old doctor’s office.

Thank goodness I did because my original doctor very patiently listened to my story, immediately ordered an MRI and referred me to a neurologist. My persistence finally paid off! The The MRI showed several ‘bright spots’ on my brain (where the MS had attacked) and a very large spot on my spinal cord between C-2 and C-3. The neurologist then gave me a physical and ordered a spinal tap, blood draws, and more MRIs. A majority of the numbness subsided, but I was still having problems remembering anything, formulating thoughts into words, experiencing other cognitive dysfunctions, suffering from severe fatigue, and feeling an electrical zing from my head to feet every time I lowered my head; I also had muscle cramps, drop foot, blurry vision, stuttering or slurring speech, vertigo, digestive issues and in the evenings muscle ‘tears’ (the sensation of muscle tissue being torn apart in my calves, quads, and especially in my forearms – the most painful and exhausting symptom). I also felt like my toes burning and that they would pop off the end of my feet. Even today, I experience the sensation that ants are marching around between my shoulder blades (a result of the muscle not receiving impulses) or as if bugs had landed on various parts of my legs, face, or other areas of my body (I call this the creepy crawlies.) I also had mock Rheumatoid Arthritis forcing me to lie in bed in the morning for ½ - 1 hour before I could even start to move.

This went on for almost a year! I was still exercising because I needed the little bit of time to get my mind off the symptoms and the feeling that I had lost complete control of my body and life. Exercise became my life boat and it was the only thing I could do to feel a little bit better. Looking back, the amount of exercise I had to do to keep the weight off was probably exacerbating the MS and possibly causing more inflammation in my body which amplified the symptoms. I was run/walking 2 miles in the morning and doing weight lifting/cardio on gym machines for 2 hours in the evening. I was exercising more intensely, I was switching my routine to keep my body from accommodating to my program, plus I was constantly adjusting my diet/caloric intake…and yet the weight was coming back on! It was a terrible cycle! I was on a rollercoaster as I dropped down to a size 8-10 from a 24, but started to gain back the weight I'd lost after 3 years of keeping it off. I went back up to a size 12.  I was starving myself but not seeing the results I wanted, and wow did the MS flare up! I was desperate to do anything not to gain the weight back.

Thankfully I discovered T-Tapp and it has changed my life forever.  Thank you Teresa Tapp!