Invisible Illness Awareness Week

Invisible Illness Awareness Week officially kicks off today. I have been blogging about it throughout the month, and will continue to do so occassionally.

Today I am very excited to have my very first guest blogger!!! Margaret from "The World As I See It" has graciously agreed to blog about her Invisinle Illness, MS. Margaret and I are "bloggy" friends, and I'm so thankful to have met her! Thanks again, Margaret!

You look at my picture ( I am the one in pink) and you say she looks normal enough. After you spend a few months getting to know me you may begin to think I am lazy or unmotivated. You might think this because I don't go out after work and on the weekends. You may get mad if you ask me to do things and I am always saying no but what you can't see from just looking at me is that I have Multiple Sclerosis(MS).

MS is a disease where my own immune system attacks my Central Nervous System. I was diagnosed when I was 15 which at the time was really young to get diagnosed. The reason they found out was because my left leg would just stop working randomly. It would basically drag when I was walking around and would do it for no reason at all. After much pushing of the doctors they finally did the tests and told me I had MS.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was glad to know what was wrong with me but I also was scared to death. No teenager wants to find out they have a chronic illness and to top it off it is invisible at that. I am now 25 and still struggle on a daily basis because of this disease. I have tried almost all of the "safe" drugs that are out there for this disease. Right now I am on one that has major risks associated with it but for the first time in 10 years I am stable and that is an amazing feeling. This disease as various symptoms and it affects everyone differently.

Here a few common symptoms fatigue, problems with walking, numbness, tingling, slurred speech, tremors, stiffness, problems with vision, cognition, speech, and elimination. The summer time is a hard time of year for me because the heat just sucks what little energy that I have out of me. Women are more likely to get this disease but men can get it but it is rare. They have found that if people with MS take high doses of Vitamin D do better than those that don't. No is really sure what truly causes this disease either.

This week is invisible illness week so please before you judge people stop and talk to them because they too could be suffering with something you can't see! I want to thank Kerri for asking me to do this guest post. If you have any questions at all please drop by my http://margarettidwell.blogspot.com and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Thanks again Margaret...God Bless you as you continue fighting this illness one day at a time!