I spent a lot of time with a woman for just over a year. Our relationship morphed through a friendship, to dating, to something in between. We are very close, she might be my deepest friend by now. I love her, and she knows it. Yesterday, she told me that she can see a future with me, BUT she is scared of catching feelings because of my diagnosis. She is scared that she can't handle disease progression, can't handle taking care of me, that we might end up in poverty. She was convinced that MS has to end in care. We both cried during this. I will respect her fear. I think it's at least partially grounded in reality. Yet, this is the first time in a long time that I actually felt sick. I usually have no symptoms that I'm aware of. I had an early diagnosis, directly followed up by treatment, with markers being largely in favor of a goodish progression. My last MRIs have showed no progress. I'm hurt, and I want to hear your ideas on how to deal with this situation. I want to be with her, but I know it's her decision and I want it to be a fair one. My current plan of action is: - Try to get her to talk to my neurologist, so she has an independent source of information, specific to my case. - Talk through specific scenarios that scare her. - Talk about expectations. I already told her: I don't look at her as my potential care taker. I think you should try to provide care if needed, at least temporarily. But I also don't know if I'd be able to keep providing care in the long term, I don't think anybody knows, until tested. My point is: IF my progression is catastrophic, I'd try to have sympathy if she can't handle it, even if it would lead to a break-up.