Hello I’m Charlotte, I’m 33 from Glasgow, Scotland I am married to Alfie and have 2 Children Sophia 12 & Rachel 5.
Symptoms For a while I had been getting tingling legs on and off, tingling down the back of my legs when I bent my head down and a horrible burning feeling on my arms that was like being burned by an iron I never really thought much of it but having the kids to be safe I decided to go to the doctors in June 2021.
Tests
They did all the normal reflex tests and said they would send a referral to neurology as she wasn’t quite sure what it all meant. It wasn’t until April 2022 that I got my neurology appointment (covid delays) which ended up being on the same day as my cousins hen doo - so I was clip clopping around the hospital with my heels and suitcase. I wasn’t missing the appointment after waiting so long ! We spoke and I said the GP had mentioned MS, the consultant again did all the tests and said he didn’t think it would be MS but said to be safe he would refer me for an MRI. I had the MRI on 26th July. On route back from our friend’s mum’s funeral I got the phone call to say my MRI had shown some activity and that he would like me to get a lumbar puncture. I got this on 7th September and Alfie came with me for this.
Patient Admin
I was told I would get the results within 10 days. 10 days came and went and I hadn’t heard, I phoned the secretary but was told that the letter had been done but it just had to be checked. I was back and forth and then was told that the GP would give me my results. I was so confused because if the consultant would phone me with my MRI results why wouldn’t they call me with the lumbar puncture results. This was also during the time that the postal strikes were on in the UK! I kept phoning back and eventually I spoke to the secretary and she said yeah you have an appointment with the consultant in the morning? I didn’t know this because the letter hadn’t arrived.
Results
So I went along to the appointment and on the 30th September I was diagnosed with Relapsing remitting Multiple Sclerosis. On the 1st of October my full left side went numb, I was told “that’s just your MS” I knew then that life was going to be very different. My Symptoms
Tingling legs, Weakness in right arm & hand, Tinnitus, Burning sensation in arms, Pain in feet - specifically morning time that can’t weight bare, Pain in hands, Cramping legs, Restless legs, Constipation, Bladder issues, Eye pain, Fatigue / Brain Fog / Loosing words
My right arm and hand are getting weaker all the time and I can’t really do things like peeling veg, holding anything heavy like pots/pans, weeding, ironing and just never knowing when my hand/wrist will give out. I know that this all seems like random things but you don’t realise how annoying it is not being able to do it until you can’t. There is also the fear of the future because MS can’t be cured. I have 2 kids and haven’t told them yet because it’s not a condition that they would have heard of and with my oldest being 12 I wouldn’t want her to google it and get scared. With that being said I still feel so new to it and I’m such a big believer in positivity and manifesting so I feel like I just try and carry on in-spite of the above in the hope that nothing gets worse. The likelihood is it will get worse but hopefully the treatment I am on currently will slow it down. For anybody who Is newly diagnosed with a lifelong condition I would say:
"Literally do whatever you want to do! I've seen a quote that said “do what you want to do now because you don’t know what you won't be able to do next year” I’ve always done things alone like go to cinema or gigs, if I wanted to but had nobody to go with but now I’m trying to be even less fearless and try and not let stress get to me at all. Easier said than done though I know !"
Comments