Under the radar

When I reached the age of thirty, I was helping my father-in-law do some gardening when I bent over to pick up a leaf and I felt a twang somewhere in my lumbar region. This twang put me completely out-of-action for a week or so afterwards. My GP had simply smiled and said, “welcome to

An assault on the senses

I’ve looked deep into the eyes of the MonSter. When I did, everything shimmered with radiating rainbow coloured clouds. Whenever I glance to the left, he wiggles his outstretched claws and warps the atmosphere so that everything I see, I see twice. When I stroke my hands across his shaggy hide, my fingertips often tingle,

DVLA 2022

Like most MSers in the UK, I have to renew my driving license every three years. What should be a simple job – where I tell the licensing authority (the DVLA) that nothing has changed and I get my licence back – often turns into a year-long tug-of-war between me and the authorities. Because you’re

The aftermath

Warning: this post contains experience of intense pain and some details of sensitive medical procedures. Sometimes I think of my MS as a monster. A monster who is always there tugging at my neck, poking me in the back, tripping me up or holding my ankles like a deadweight. As a child of the ‘70s,

Gloves off

Well, I knew I’d be tempting fate to say that I was feeling fitter and more mobile. It seems that the old MonSter has found a chink in the armour and has left its footprint behind in the form of a few new spots on the MRI. My neurologist has decided to advise exactly what

The eyes of the monster – part 2

Well, I went to see the eye surgeon. The upshot of my meeting was that I’m not going to have an operation to correct my doublevision. I decided that it wasn’t worth it because I have what he termed a “complex squint” and any correction to my doublevision to the left would be offset by

The eyes of the monster

Regular readers may know that I have had doublevision ever since my last big relapse in 2008. Every time I look left I see double. Looking straight ahead I’m fine and looking to the right, results in a textbook case of nystagmus (shaky eyes). Doublevision is the reason I saw my GP in the first

Mild relapse?

I have been on beta interferon (Rebif) for nearly two years now and in that time I haven’t had a relapse. Or have I? Beta interferon is supposed to reduce the likelihood of having a relapse and minimise the effects if you do get one. Back in January 2009, when I came off gabapentin, I experienced

Life with MS – analogies

There seem to be analogies every which way you turn when you discuss MS with other (oh heck!) “sufferers”. The most popular one must be the MS MonSter (see what I did with the letters?). The one that sits on your chest in the morning and stops you getting up, demands a piggyback if you

Giving in

Yesterday I gave in. I rang work to say that I couldn’t make it to the bus stop (one mile away up an icy hill) because of the weather. In January 2003, I put my books to one side (I was doing a masters degree at the time), donned my walking boots and headed out