Once Upon a Label

To my dismay, once I was awarded the dreadful “MS” label, each new symptom was automatically attributed to the disease and any treatment was based accordingly.  Whether it was a migraine headache or colitis, suddenly everything was cause by MS. This seems to be a routine response to autoimmune diseases.  And theoretically it sounds reasonable, but the reality for me was that the treatments generally created a whole new crop of symptoms and complications. 

The initial concerns that led me to the doctor were occasional blurred vision, vertigo, stumbling/tripping (due to delayed signals from my brain to my foot!), fatigue, cognitive problems, and a general feeling of something’s wrong.  Within months of my diagnosis and introduction to medications to manage my symptoms, I was building a very long list of complications which were automatically labeled “due to MS.”  Despite the medical team’s persistent encouragement to begin the standard MS treatment, I continued to hold out. 


With all the new problems I was experiencing from the “tried and true meds”, I was in no hurry to add daily or weekly injections of “not fully understood” medications to my current arsenal of body-wreckers.  The anti-fatigue meds made me sensitive to the sun… the bladder meds caused IBS… an asthma medication altered my vision…Within 2 years I was sicker than I had ever been, totally disabled, and dependent on family and friends for almost everything. 

Convinced that not all of my symptoms fit neatly under the “MS” label, I urged my primary care physician to refer me to someone who did not specialize in MS, just to see if they could help with some of my more debilitating digestive problems.  She did and it  helped… instead of weekly bouts, they came every 3 weeks, leaving me sprawled on the bathroom floor like a used towel.  With hope fading and MS injection therapy waiting in the wings, I decided that it was time to try something drastically different; and so began my journey into the alternative medicine arena, which included chiropractics, herbal, and dietary supplementation.