Hi all, So four weeks ago I was happily plodding along in life and here I am posting about my story with MS so far. Through September and October I was having an extremely stressful time at work, to the point where I had threatened to resign out of principle. That all worked out in the end but on a Sunday night four weeks ago I asked my flatmate to roll me a joint (he smokes regularly, I don't) as I felt I needed something extra to send me off to sleep. I woke up and went to work on Monday morning, and by lunchtime I still had the sensation of feeling stoned. This continued until the next day a real lack of balance had also joined my dizziness and vertigo-like symptoms. By Wednesday I had developed double vision and went home from work early. At that point I realised I wasn't still stoned (!) but assumed I might have an ear infection as I could feel pressure in the left side of my head. On Friday night I noticed I was having trouble remembering some words and decided it was time to go to A&E. A doctor rushed through my symptoms with me and told me not to worry, it was probably just down to stress. When I said that this wasn't really a satisfactory explanation he suggested I visit the eye hospital to have them check out my double vision. I was diagnosed with palsy in one of the nerves leading to my left eye and they sent me back to A&E for a CT scan the following day - that came back clear but I was asked to come back after the weekend for an MRI scan. My trouble with speech was giving them cause for concern and MS was brought up in conversation, although the nurse said this was unlikely due to my age (33) and the fact that I'm male. I spent a few days with Dr Google and felt that MS seemed like a real possibility, so started to swot up as I was fairly uneducated about MS and had never knowingly met anybody with MS before. Whilst waiting for my MRI scan at Royal London Hospital I ended up speaking with a junior doctor who was super helpful and he promised to call me as soon as the results of my scan were back. He called me later that evening and started the conversation with "Hi it's xx from Royal London - we've got your results back and unfortunately something has showed up". My heart skipped a beat and at that moment I fully expected to hear that I had a brain tumour. He went on to say that he wasn't qualified to go through the results in detail with me but that there was visible scarring of my brain. I asked him if he could explain further but he insisted that I would have to wait for the neurologist to be in touch, but that he didn't know when that would be. I am fortunate enough to be in a position where my company provides me with private health insurance and so took it up with them instead. They were able to book me in with a neurologist later that week who went through the results with me, explained that there were numerous lesions in my brain and spine and that it was likely MS. He requested blood tests and a full brain and spine MRI for a few days later, which subsequently showed lesions on the spine, as well as some older lesions which were no longer active. It turns out that a bout of numbness and tingling I experienced 7 years ago during another period of acute stress was probably my first episode. Given that I had a few weeks to start getting used to the idea I might have MS, it didn't feel like such a sudden shock. I randomly woke up in tears each of the two mornings after my first MRI scan when I didn't know what I had and suspected MS, but that was more out of a feeling of frustration and helplessness. Other than one afternoon last week where I really started to get fed up with the symptoms, I haven't been able to get down about it. I am quite a pragmatic person but even I have been surprised at how well I've taken it so far. I buried my head in books (Overcoming MS and Swank Diet) and research papers about MS weeks ago when the subject was first mentioned and immediately changed my diet (no red meat, no dairy, absolute minimum saturated fat, homemade juices daily) and cut down on smoking (I am going to give up but felt I could forgive myself that vice while the diagnosis sinks in). My family and friends are a lot more worried than I am, although it seems they have finally started to believe me when I tell them that I'm actually fine. I think seeing me in person and realising that I'm not at death's door definitely helped! I went for a session in a flotation/sensory deprivation tank which helped massively when my symptoms were at their peak - for anyone who hasn't tried that, it's literally the most relaxing thing I've ever done and luckily I had already discovered it months ago. Massage has also helped and my symptoms cleared up yesterday, exactly 4 weeks since they started. I took a 10,000 UI dose of vitamin D3 yesterday morning which made me feel absolutely amazing, and followed that up with the same dose this morning - that's something I'm going to supplement with regularly, as well as B12, omega-3 oils and iodine and anything else useful I discover. Some of the symptoms have made me laugh at times, the main one being a real lack of depth perception and judging my distance from other objects. I have still been a regular user of the London Underground over the past few weeks and noticed I was quickly becoming that creepy guy who stands far too close to people. My next step is a 3 month scan to look for new lesions before we decide whether or not I should start on any treatment, although I'm hoping my self-help strategy can kick MS's butt until then and delay any need for prescribed medicine. The more I discover about MS, the more I want to meet others of a similar age, which is why I included my location (London) in the title. One thing that surprised me since receiving this diagnosis is the lack of support groups in this city, despite the fact that there should be around 10,000 of us in London alone (yay for Shift!). As MS varies wildly from person to person and is such an unsolved disease I have been really curious to listen to others' stories and how they are dealing with it. I feel like I'm on the right path and have met a few MS-ers over the past week but am hoping that over the next year or so I'm able to meet others in person and that as a group we're able to benefit each other, whether it be with shared knowledge, insight or just some support, solidarity and someone to listen us vent. I've been very open about my diagnosis with people I know, including at work, but the look on their face when you tell them you have MS is starting to become annoying! I've found it very therapeutic to just sit and talk with other people who understand it and realise it's not a sudden death sentence. Congrats if you reached the end of my essay, consider me a happy new Shift user!