Self-esteem/confidence… sure. 100%. I didn’t have any qualitatively similar issues before diagnosis, but it definitely comes when your body/brain don’t work the same way they did before. I’m having to “perform” what used to be a given. For me, MS really forced me to define what about myself did I want to keep? MSers commonly deal with progressively significant personality and cognitive changes, and when asked “what they miss most” before symptoms/progression… it’s common to see the response: “Me.” BUT we 100% lose out when these changes/losses are reacted to with pure mourning/inaction. The reality: I was always social and confident, but that went away when my MS took my ability to jog and my brain felt sluggish. So now I’m having to work DAILY for what previously was easy. But I’m getting better again and learning way more about myself in the process. When I lost my very rewarding career as a corporate partnerships manager and traveling conference speaker by age 32, my confidence sucked! I was isolated and losing my sense of joy in life. But I pivoted towards streaming, learned a new software, and dove into designing my channel (focusing on MS and, funny enough, my hobby as a VHS collector). 1-week after launching, I’m 72% of the way to generating revenue (just need 11 more followers on http://twitch.tv/staysicklive). And that feeling is doing something new, manageable, speaking about my disease and my special interests… it’s a confidence boost. And definitely, re-sharpening my intellect and social agility. And now I’m not stuck mourning loss, which I’ve seen lead to MSers spiraling. So… 1. Neuroplasticity is amazing. 2. This disease blocked off so many pathways in my life. So f*ck it, I’m finding a different path forward.

Yeah I get that, it definitely knocked my confidence at first. I actually found the opposite over time though. Getting diagnosed made me re-evaluate things and I’ve ended up a bit more confident in myself. I think getting diagnosed basically made me realise life's too short to worry so much, so I started to go on solo holidays and concerts, and got a bit more confident dating and asking people to do things. I think work is where it mainly knocks my confidence, with brain fog and the fatigue and up and downs, I'm not as switched on as the rest of the team. But I'm sort of happy with where I'm at, so I'm fine not climbing corporate ladders which helped. But sucks to hear about your confidence being affected and I hope you do start feeling more confident however you can!