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Date Posted: 17:46:32 05/26/00 Fri
Author: Bridget
Subject: Bridget's letter of introduction

Hi my name is Bridget, I am from Toronto, Ontario in Canada. Here's my story.... I am 34, have a totally amazing andsupportive husband and two boys Matt, 10 and Chris, 4.I was diagnosed with ON in Jan. 1998. In Nov. '97 had one of the worst colds/flu I'd had in a long time and went about 50% blind in my right eye soon after I recovered
from my cold. I saw an opthamologist, thinking he'd give me some med's and that would be that. He sent me to a retina specialist at one of the better hospitals in Toronto. It took about 1 1/2 months to see this doctor and he diagnosed me with ON.

I checked out what ON was on the internet when I got home that nite and was completely freaked out when I found out that 50% of the people with ON will develop MS in two years. The specialist saw me a month later and told me
that he didn't feel it was related to MS but to keep awares of numbess of the extremities, dizziness ... ... .... In Dec. 98, my index finger went totally numb and my left leg and both feet would go numb on long walks. I finally followed up in Jul. 99 with the GP, fearing the worst and he said I had rheumatoid arthritis. He sent me to a neuro who tested the peripheral nerve in my left arm and there was no damage and didn't feel the numbness in my finger was related to MS. I'd experienced the numbness on and off and my eye would go "jiggy"? on and off. By the end of Jan. '00 I'd had my first exacerbation. I had a misscarriage at 5 weeks pregnant and the very next day my arm went tingly and numb. The next day my entire left side went totally numb, I could still feel things but it was like my sense of touch was severely compromised. My GP told me not to worry, I was becoming anemic from the misscarriage. I was still numb 5 days later and my knee starting getting
really stiff. I went to my mom's doctor and she didn't feel it was MS related but sent me to a neuro because I had not yet seen one regarding my concerns about MS. I saw the
neuro and he said that based on my history (I think I had a bout of ON in 1994 - undiagnosed) and my current symptoms that he felt it might be MS. Not what I wanted to hear -- especially after all the reassurances I'd received from almost half a dozen medical doctors! From Feb. to Apr. 2000, my left leg was totally spastic from the knee down, it felt like someone was pinching the muscle inside my leg and felt totally gross. I think I experienced a MS hug? I think my pectoral musle was spastic too, I was afraid of my heart being affected but chest on the left side of my body
would tighten and I would find myself short of breath sometimes while I was talking to people. My left foot felt like a block of ice and weirdly enough felt like I had wet sock on all the time. I walked with a limp for a couple
weeks and my symptoms would get worse around midday.

About a month after the first exacerbation I experienced Lhermites sign, an electrical shock from my neck down through the trunk of my body through to my legs, this
lasted about two weeks. My right foot went numb and my left arm got much worse. I've only been able to type for the past 2 weeks using my left hand. I experienced extreme fatigue for about a month. My arm is the only thing that is really bad and my right eye gets jiggy every now and then. The worst is that I've had terrible insomnia for the past few months, I don't know if this is related. I had evoked potentials -- they came back fine except for minor problems with my left arm. The MRI was a verbal, they hadn't received the written report yet and it was clean. My neuro diagnosed me with possible MS.

I had a lumbar puncture two weeks ago and will get results only if something shows up. I am having another MRI on my neck in October. If these come back clean, I will have MRI's once every couple of years or follow-up with the neuro if I have another exacerbation.

Sorry for the novel, the paperback should be out next week. Take care everyone
Bridget

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