no treatment yet.. neuro wanted me to look over a truck load of info packs on the 4 drugs and pick one by the next visit.. on the 16th.. i read all the books and watched the DVDs and all i know is i am not going with avonex... i dont have a problem with giving myself injections but that one seems a bit much even for me... i dont know if i really see a point to it now though the damage is done and if i cant see why bother worring about the rest of my body.. plus it seem like such a crap shoot, even if i start one i may have another flare up and have to switch.. i dont know i guess i am still not in the mood to really think about it at this point because i am still annoyed as hell about my eye and i just found out that i also have Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.. so it sounds like i am gonna be sitting on my butt alot anymore.. 28yrs old and i am screwed... its just to much to take in at this point and i am in a mood so sorry if i came off like a jerk..

I know it is tough. Is the neurologist you saw an MS specialist?

MS is certainly something you can live with. I tell myself that I can't live every day waiting for the next episode to happen. Some people have one attack and then never have another. I am not so lucky. I have been dealing with health problems all my life, so I guess it wasn't as hard for me to accept as it is for you. But don't let being upset about the diagnosis stop you from getting treatment. The goal of treatment is to prevent new lesions from forming on your brain and to prevent future attacks. Injecting yourself isn't as bad as it sounds. I basically let my doctor make the decision as far as what drug I should go on. He wanted me to try Avonex, so I did. It didn't work for me. I developed far too many new lesions on my MRIs and too many new symptoms. I also had two relapses in less than a year while I was on it. I decided myself that I wanted to try Rebif. It has a much lower relapse rate and is supposed to be better at stopping the formation of new lesions. It is also supposed to stop any lesions that you do have from forming scars. Since I started taking Rebif in April, I have felt much better physically. My last MRI showed no new lesions, and it showed that all of the previous lesions that I had healed without forming scar tissue. I have been falling down much less, and I have a lot more energy.

I don't know about the heart problem, but from an MS standpoint there is no reason why you cannot continue to be just as active as you were before the diagnosis. You just have to know your limits and know your own body.

MS treatment has come sooooo far in the last ten years. People who are being diagnosed now are living longer and longer without serious disability thanks to the new treatments which were introduced starting in the early 1990s. When I thought of MS, I thought of blind people in wheelchairs. But it doesn't have to be. Activity and excercise is the best thing for people with MS. It keeps your body limber and in good condition so that if you do have a relapse, you can recover better.

You also do not have to switch medications after you decide on one and you like it. Just because you might have a relapse on one medication that is not a reason to switch. If a relapse is going to happen, it's going to happen no matter what medication you are on. You might decide to switch because you and your doctor think you are having *too many* relapses, or you just don't like the way the medication makes you feel. But having one relapse while on a medication is not a reason to switch. I switched from Avonex to Rebif because I was steadily deteriorating on Avonex. With Rebif, now I feel pretty much like my old self again. Just with limits.

Think about how one of the medications might prevent you from ever having to deal with Optic Neuritis again. You don't ever want to get it in your other eye and risk having partial vision loss in both eyes.

It is definitely a good idea to try to join a support group. You can also subscribe to magazines such as MS Focus, and you can get the quarterly publication from the MS Foundation. The MS Society also puts out a monthly publication that you can subscribe to. In these magazines, you can find information about chapter meetings, live support groups and telephone support groups. There are also a lot of other resources, such as something called "MS University" that basically has a lot of information and support references.

If you are unsure of what treatment to take, ask your doctor for his advice. Ask him which one he has found his patients to be most successful with. Also, check out the MS board here at healthboards. Just don't let your fear and anxiety and depression stop you from getting treatment. I was very depressed when I was first diagnosed. I laid around for 3 or 4 days and hid under the covers. But then I told myself that if I am going to have to live with this thing, I can be depressed if I want, but I might as well get off my butt and do something about it! You have taken the right first steps. It's daunting, but you'll get through it just fine.