When my career and my MS fatigue met
NEW MS BLOG | “When my career and my MS fatigue met” by @SHF1
I was diagnosed with MS in 2018, and because of a compromised left hand, I was unable to easily use my phone or any devices. Thankfully, my husband likes to do research and was very helpful in reading through articles and information about MS which was new to us. We learned a lot about RRMS, and with the help of the neurologist, realized that I had MS since as early as 2012. It started with an initial sensory attack in my lower legs, followed by another attack in 2013 which was a bad case of vertigo. So, I was thinking, 'okay, I've had those attacks, and recovered, and even had some years where things were quiet - I've got this. I recovered from many aspects of the 2018 attack within 8 weeks, but to some extent, a few sensory and motor-related symptoms remained.
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During his research, my husband came across an article that mentioned that a high percentage of people with MS cannot work. I was not happy to hear that. I was already working part-time to balance family responsibilities and couldn't imagine not working at all. I'm a Human Resources Consultant and Career Coach and not only do I really like working, but we need my income. I told him to not share such negative articles with me, especially ones that aren't relevant to where I'm at. So I thought. [Continued below] 👇
Around one month after returning to in-person work, I started to notice that I was very tired in the middle of the day. I tried popping into Starbucks for green tea thinking that would do the trick. Within a few weeks, I realized a pattern - I was feeling exhausted, in a way where I could not function, every day at the same time and to the same extent. It felt so compromising. I felt helpless. I confided in a colleague whose mom had an auto-immune disease and she spoke of her mom being tired every day, and how they needed help at home long past the age of needing a nanny. That was October 2018, when MS fatigue came into my life, made itself known, and met my career, and it hasn't stopped since - not even for a single day. This is when part-time work became even more part-time. I would only do in-person work in the mornings. I blocked off every day from 1:00 - 2:00 to rest. No more facilitating lunch and learns. No more providing half-day training. [Continued below] 👇