Why I Started Crying When I Was Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis

In 1996, I went to see my neurologist to get the results of my MRI. When the neurologist told me that he had multiple sclerosis I started crying because he was the first doctor who didn’t think she was crazy!

The doctor I went to in IL had a practice of saying that I was imagining all the problems I kept having with my body not acting normally to the events of everyday life. He would lose feeling in my hands for no apparent reason. My body would act like it had a sunburn when it didn’t. He seemed to think I was making up all my problems.

The funny thing is that once I was correctly diagnosed, it seems like all my female relatives on my maternal side of the family were also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis! Looking back at our family’s medical history, they should have found out a long time ago! I had to move out of state to attend college and learn what was wrong with all of us. If I hadn’t won the scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University, we may never have learned the answers to all of our problems.

Why do doctors think they have all the answers, when they don’t bother to listen to their patients in the first place? My mom was misdiagnosed with the wrong type of thyroid problem, which ended up causing her to gain uncontrollable weight. No matter how many diets the doctors put her on, she kept gaining weight.

I remember my mom was always trying to lose weight when I was little. Being on a diet that didn’t work could be so exasperating! She lived with misinformation from doctors she trusted. When I started having problems that the doctor couldn’t explain, it didn’t occur to my mother to ask the doctor. They raised her so that she thought that doctors had the answers to everything. She now knows how to question them if they don’t make sense.

Think about what would have happened if I hadn’t left the state to continue my education. We still wouldn’t know what was causing all our problems. My mother has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She underwent surgery to reduce the size of her stomach, which took care of her diabetes. It won’t work for every diabetic in the world, but it worked for my mom.

Now do you understand why I started crying when I received my multiple sclerosis diagnosis? I was crying with relief to finally get an answer to what was wrong with my body. I admitted that I used to be an alcoholic, but I stopped drinking. I try to take care of my body the best I can.