A comprehensive update of my multiple sclerosis diagnosis: One year later
Well, June 12th, 2016 I went to the hospital. The neurologist told me she believed I had MS, but the official word was on June 26th after my spinal tap. I will say it was the 12th for the sake of this post and recognizing that is been a year.
My post about my diagnosis from then is here:
You can track the whole day from the screen grab of my Swarm check-ins from June 12, 2017 — From the eye doctor at noon to the ER after that, to the recognition that I was going to be hospitalized all night. I was very wrong about it just being an overnight stay. (Side note: you can also see my last regular gym check-in on June 8th of my pre-MS life. That was the last one of my streak of many weeks that I went and never missed a day. Wow, how that has changed considering I have not been since late last year, and one of the private ER places I went when try to figure out why I was had nausea.)
One year after my diagnosis has brought many changes into my life. I became debt free thanks to the Department of Education forgiving my student loans and my filing bankruptcy in 2017. That freed up my life to deal with my health as a primary task since that killed most of my monthly bills. All I have now is my health and car insurances to pay. I gave my car to my oldest brother since he needed it, as I drove his old car for years while in school, so I willing gave that dying investment over to him. He will take on the insurance for it soon. That just leaves my health insurance with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX). My parents help pay that and most my other medical costs out of pure love and paternal love.
I had one relapse of my MS and had new brain lesions last October. However, I was not hospitalized for several days thanks to the Copaxone I was prescribed after my initial diagnosis.
I just had to do a week of blood infusions of Solu-Medrol, a steroid. That was instead of a full week of the steroids as an in-patient in the hospital I did in June 2017 after my diagnosis. The steroids I received initially in June 2017 were 10 times the amount I received in October after my relapse. They still made my blood glucose (BG) high in October, but not nearly as high as it got in June.
The biggest change in the last year was that I went from being a Type 2 to a Type 1 diabetic. I know that there is a progressive type of diabetes that more accurately describes my illness, but I don’t know enough about it to speak on it. I just know what my doctors tell me. The description of being a Type 2 and then a Type 1 diabetic is what they told me, so I am sticking with that one. To be honest, I was using medium acting insulin since 2010, so the initial change was not that big in managing my illness. The real change was when I went to an endocrinologist, and I started using both long and short acting insulin. That mix of insulin made me “stack” them accidentally and overdose on them this year. I now understand that I was “stacking,” which multiplies the strength, when I took the short acting insulin shots too closely together.
My endocrinologist explained that the stacking meant the half-life, or effective time, of the insulin was not over. That means that a 2 unit shot an hour ago and a 2 unit shot now was like a 4 unit shot in the end. That whole episode of overdosing my insulin intensified my desire for an insulin pump. Well, that and the fact that I had to fight to get insulin during my stays in the hospital for my MS and then the Adderall reaction. I figured the pump would make it easier to have my insulin and control how much I did if I had a pump with insulin in it already.
And then there was my whole Adderall trip. Yes, it was a trip. As my post on the incident will tell you:
The whole health journey I am on is why I started doing a weekly post on my learning and dealing with my pump. I just feel as though everyone could learn something from my story of struggling with chronic illnesses and the mental crushes that it brings. Perseverance or grit is something I think I have always had as an asset. I spoke of my tool of being stubbornly optimistic and that is for sure a good thing with my conditions. I face a daily chore of keeping anxiety at bay and not having any more anxiety attacks like I did before. Yes, I now admit that the event of high pulse and getting the chills a few weeks ago had to be an anxiety attacks. I am just glad it was not a panic attack. My family history makes me worry about cardiac issues and heart disease when I consider my anxiety in the long term.
My therapy sessions are another new thing I started since my MS diagnosis. I like my therapist, and the visits we have. It’s a good thing talking out my feelings with a person that I am not related to. He is also a good sounding board for thoughts I have on the current state of me. My mental health will always be an issue because I will always have doubt about the way I deal with things and depressing crush of the reality my chronic illnesses present me every second of every day. I just have to rely on my stubbornness that I choose to be optimistic instead of pessimistic, and my grit that got me this far in my life. I could not have made it through my return to college and grad school if I had no real skills to preserve through harsh circumstances.
Call to action, feel appreciated:
To begin I need to graciously thank everyone that had given even a penny to me in support of my health. You have been my loan source of money other than my parents for my whole health journey to now. This post is being posted as a part of the members program as an experiment to see how the impressions, reads and everything works with the program. Thank you so much for caring and read and/or responding to my blogs. My family and I are grateful for your kindness.
