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In the spring of 2002, multiple sclerosis was a term I had heard, but was not very familiar with the ins and outs of the disease. That was all about to change.

After seeing a chiropractor for several weeks for a pulled muscle in my back, I noticed an unusual sensation in my right foot. From three inches below the knee to the bottom of my foot, I was often experiencing pins and needles, like my leg had randomly “fallen asleep.” So, I went to see my general practitioner. He said to stop seeing the chiropractor which I did immediately and to have a series of back x-rays.

This would begin the four-month process that eventually led to the conclusion that I did not have multiple sclerosis. We were wrong.

The first round of tests involved x-rays and then an MRI of my spine. After a visit to the back specialist, I was referred to a neurologist. After a nerve conductivity test, the neurologist ordered an MRI of the brain on the suspicion that I had MS.

When the scan showed no lesions on the brain, the thought of further testing was set aside. They said I didn’t have multiple sclerosis. They said I had sciatica, a pinched nerve in my lower back. I was too relieved to argue.

For the next three years, I fought the back pain and leg numbness sporadically, getting pain medication when pain would flair up and gradually learning not to walk long distances for fear of stumbling and falling on my face. Then, I went on vacation to the French Quarter of New Orleans.

In the pre-Katrina days of May 2005, the French Quarter vacation was wonderful, marred only by the fact that walking around the Quarter was increasingly painful and I was stumbling, badly, when I would become fatigued. I looked like a drunken zombie stumbling down Bourbon Street even though I had nothing alcoholic to drink. My back seized up and I rubbed it so hard trying to ease the pain, that I left hand-shaped bruises in the small of my back.

For the rest of the trip, I included frequent breaks to sit down in my plans and was able to salvage my vacation. Unknown to me, this was the beginning of a major MS relapse. Though I did not know it then, I was exhibiting all the major signs of multiple sclerosis, muscle weakness on my right side, stumbling and loss of motor control, intolerance to heat and more. The symptom I was missing struck me about three days after we got home.

While watching television, I suddenly noticed that I was seeing double. Since I worked for an eye doctor, I was able to see someone right away who confirmed that the fourth nerve in my right eye was not working properly. When I would look off to the right, the right eye would fail to stay in focus with the left eye and I would see double.

After several more tests, my ophthalmologist sent me to have an MRI of the brain conducted again. He suspected that it was multiple sclerosis and the earlier diagnosis had been wrong. It was. It turns out that I should have demanded a lumbar puncture, sometimes called a spinal tap, in 2002 to confirm that I did not have MS, but I had been so happy with the good news that I did not ask for additional tests.

The MRI is 2005 showed four lesions on the brain and the spinal tap confirmed it a month later. I had relapsing and remitting multiple sclerosis, the most mild form of the disease. In its current form, relapsing and remitting means I have good weeks and bad weeks, with the relapses occurring with no rhyme or reason. The only good news was that once we found the MS we could figure out what to do about it.

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Written by: Moonshadow68
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