> But NOW my brain is trying to telling me that I’m ‘damaged’ and no longer capable of doing simple things. Tell your brain to fuck off. Sorry to be crass but you own your brain so you can control these unwanted thoughts, don't let your mind wander. You're a valid amazing human being who has a few scars in a few places that other people don't have them... so what! You can do anything you want to if you have enough will power. Yes all this is terrifying, I'm 18 months in now so I guess I've found my spine a bit more with it (haha bad joke, luckily it seems to only be my brain with lesions!) and my brain keeps telling me horrible anxiety inducing things, I get it... I try very hard to get it to stfu but it's hard to ignore them every day. You can totally do that! Maybe you can't do it every day but you can do it, and if you can say you did your best at the end of a day then that's all you can control. You got this, we all got this!

I hear you. Pre-diagnosis, I went through a spell of looking drunk all the time...couldn't walk in a straight line, would walk into things, and lost hand-to-eye coordination. For years after diagnosis (and long after that relapse), I'd feel super light headed when out in public...it took me a while to realise this was anxiety; a mental scar left over from when I was so self conscious. It passed with time and it didn't stop me from going out, but if I had another go of things, I would 100% have sought some counselling to help me deal with it (as well as dealing with the diagnosis itself). There's no shame in having these feelings, it's just our emotional brain trying to figure out the minefield of MS.