It’s the last day of MS Awareness Week with the campaign of #MSThinkAgain, which has been challenging all the assumptions that surround the condition, which just aren’t true. 🙂
Every day this week, Dizzy and I have been considering the misconceptions we have encountered, and we have put together this little post to share them. 🙂
- You’re too young to be sick!
When in fact the average age people are diagnosed with MS is between 20 and 40 years old. (We were 24, and our first symptoms started at 15.) Age is not a signifier of MS. x
2. But you look fine!
Apparently over 85% of people have had this said to them. But out of the 40-50 symptoms MS can cause, 80% of these are invisible!
3. Everyone has the same journey with MS.
MS is know as a snowflake disease. Just like with snowflakes, you will never find two people who are on the same journey with their MS.
4. MS only causes physical symptoms.
MS can also cause cognitive symptoms, such as brain fog, trouble processing information, difficulty concentrating, and the really random one of saying a completely different word to the one you meant to say. 🙂
5. MS is a death sentence.
MS definitely isn’t! And if fact, the condition can bring lots of positive. 🙂 For me, these include opportunites that I would not have had without MS, meeting amazing people, and learning to fall in love with the simplier things in life. 🙂
MS is super challenging, but it’s doesn’t mean life has to stop, it just means having a look at things a little differentyly. 🙂 x
What assumptions would you like people to know the truth about for your condition? 🙂 xxxx
My best friend from grade school found a guy we had a crush on at school online. She contacted him and found out he had MS. His MS progressed like a wildfire, and he had many problems and eventually died but she had some contact with him. My first love, my high school boyfriend, has become a friend through the Internet, and we contacted each other on FB. I was glad to know he had found his true love and had children; I was not happy to discover both he and his wife had MS. Even with MS, he achieved his goal and finished university. Finally, he thought he could settle down with his wife as the children were growing up. It was not to be. He got cancer on top of his MS, and though he and his wife fought all they could, unfortunately, he died. I felt so shocked we were born in the same year. Left me mumbling about MS being bad enough, but why also cancer? He has come to me in dreams. Both Dottie and I wish you and Dizzy all the best. Virtual hugs.
Some get it bad and many don’t, even when things seem bad you can still see improvements sometimes and staying positive is the most beneficial thing of all. Enjoy the spring 🌸🌸🌸🌸