Bittersweet Relief in Finding Your Diagnosis
- Writer Lindsay Karp, 39, suffered from immobility and debilitating fatigue for over a decade before finally finding a doctor who gave her a proper diagnosis: it was multiple sclerosis.
- After all these years, the mom-of-two finally discovered that she had the degenerative autoimmune condition because of her doctor simply ordering a standard brain MRI.
- There are 400,000 people suffering from MS in the United States. In Don't Stop Me Now, SurvivorNetTV features the story of one incredible woman who, like Lindsay, learns to overcome her own hardships.
After all these years, Lindsay finally discovered that she had the degenerative autoimmune condition because of her doctor simply ordering a standard brain MRIa test she had not been given before.
Read MoreWhen you know what is wrong at least you know how to treat it and what you are dealing with. When your condition goes undiagnosed such as Lindsay’s, on top of the physical ailments, many patients say that the mental repercussions can even lead to mania as you desperately seek answers.
“Will I walk normally again? Can these lesions heal? Are my legs going to fatigue this easily forever?” I stacked the questions one upon the other until they reached the ceiling,” she wrote. “I’d waited for a diagnosis for so long, but I hadn’t prepared myself to accept one.”
However, just from learning the news of her diagnosis, Lindsay says she started feeling like herself again.
Finally Finding Relief
Lindsay found relief from a B-cell-depleting medication to “calm her disease” and keep it at bay.
“Slowly, my body showed a resemblance to what it once was,” the health writer reported. “Gradually, my flares settled, and my abilities evened out over time. I could finally recognize myself again.”
When her doctor, aka her savior in her eyes (which he very much was), decided to retire, Lindsay recalled feeling lost again to lose her “gentle, intelligent” hero.
“The stability I’d gained through my relationship with him crumpled beneath me,” she admitted. “Six months have passed since my doctor’s retirement. I think of him every day. I recall his kind nature and his ability to think outside the box.”
During Lindsay’s last doctor’s visit, she gave him a letter thanking him for saving her.
“Without him, I’d surely still be undiagnosed, incapable of walking, and with no stamina to go on. Without him, my boys wouldn’t have a mother,” she expressed. “Not many people can say their lives exist because of one good human. I can. And I will never forget it.”
Hope for Multiple Sclerosis Patients
There are 400,000 people suffering from MS in the United States. In Don't Stop Me Now, SurvivorNetTV features the story of one incredible woman who, like Blair, learns to overcome her own hardships, and inspires countless people along the way.
MS warrior Louise Carr might look perfectly healthy on the outside, but behind her warm smile a war rages on inside her body.
The disease causes her daily pain, fatigue, memory loss and restricts movement. But even in her darkest moments Louise holds true that "I might have MS, but it doesn't have me."
'Don't Stop Me Now' Is Inspiration for Anybody With Multiple Sclerosis
For Louise, switching to a vegan dietcoupled with a focus on more active livinghas been a game changer. Through yoga and Zumba classes, along with riding a recumbent bicycle, she discovered her physical and mental outlook both had greatly improved.
"To my absolute astonishment within a week of becoming vegan my energy levels absolutely shot up. It's changed my life," Louise says.
Louise Carr's story, along with Lindsay Karp’s, is living proof that mindset does matter.
SurvivorNetTV Presents Defying All Odds A World-Renowned Doctor's Incredible Journey Through MS
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