Dating a coworker when I haven't disclosed MS at work?
Hi all! 39/m and I have had MS for about 12 years, been single for the last 3 and have a 7 year old son who I coparent. I'm lucky enough to be pretty stable and have been free of obvious clinical relapses for a number of years. I did have a a few new lesions within the last couple of years which prompted a switch from Tecfedira to Ocrevcus earlier this year.
There's a coworker I've worked with for a little over a year. We've always had good rapport and got along will. In recent weeks we've started spending some time together outside of work and we both like each other a lot and have great chemistry.
I keep my MS very private and no one at work knows. I'm having a lot of anxiety around how and when to disclose this to her. A lot of the time we initially spent together has been fairly low pressure, which worked for me, but things are definitely starting to move beyond that.
Some of my anxieties in no particular order: it's going to scare her off, I'm going to pick the "wrong" way or time to bring it up and put a downer on our time together, that I'm being deceptive by not bring it up right away, that I need to bring it up before any kind of more intimate moment (not necessarily sexual, though my sexual performance can be somewhat affected), but that if my anxiety allows me to delay that she's going to interpret it as me not being interested and walk away. Or that if anything more intimate does happen it would come across as dishonest if I reveal my MS after the fact. I also have a mutual coworker who has figured out what's going on and has been getting curious around how it's going, and I worry if things don't work out she's going to want to know what happened, which may lead to me being "outed" at work outside of my own terms.
I haven't dated at all since my last relationship ended and have always tended to avoid relationships with people I work with. If this was a more casual dating situation it would be way more low pressure, but this is where I am and right now it does feel like something I want. I'm just finding it hard to navigate and don't want self doubt to get the better of me and to mess things up.
Thanks for any advice!
How about cooking a nice dinner at and you invite her. And after the dinner in a quiet corner in the room or in the couch later in the night you bring the subject out. You appreciate the time you have been spending for the past few months, but there is something important in your heart and you would like to share it with her. And you start with how you have been diagnosed and what are the work you put into place to be able to stand on your fit daily. Ms is not a deaf sentence, it is manageable! Give her time to breath and think about it and later you ask what she thinks about it and if she wants she can take her time to think about it and let you know what she decides. Follow it with sweet words. Keep in minds this might come out positive thoughts or empathy no too much interested in relationships but friendships. Good luck!
1st of all thanks for sharing your story, this is why I signed up to this App. Everyone has there story. I couldn’t said it better than @ Laure said. Honesty and Transparency is the foundation of of a good relationship, My cousin told his fiancé he has couple years ago, they just got married over this past summer. Confidence plays big role. Dont 2nd guess yourself. You will feel a lot better knowing that u let certain people know what your up against, and you are winning.