MS Warrior - #RemovetheStigma

*Excerpts taken from an article by Aviva Patz that you can read in its entirety here.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in May 2000. I have been coming to terms with this chronic illness for the past nineteen years and I still don’t quite have a complete handle on it. Due to the nature of MS, every day is different. I never know how the day will go until I wake up and try to get out of bed. After a silent inventory, I can plan out the next 14 or so hours.

A basic description of Multiple Sclerosis – my immune system is attacking my nervous system. When the protective cover of a nerve is breached, something happens to my body. According to the Mayo Clinic, “signs and symptoms of MS vary widely and depend on the amount of nerve damage and which nerves are affected.” From numbness or weakness in one or more limbs to electric-shock sensations in your neck to tremors, lack of coordination and unsteady gait to vision problems, slurred speech, fatigue, dizziness, tingling or pain in parts of your body to the embarrassing sexual problems and bowel and bladder function issues, the symptoms of MS are different for everyone with the illness. Like most people fighting MS, I have experienced many, if not all, of these symptoms. The hardest part, is “you don’t look sick.” To everyone else, you appear the same, but you “all of a sudden” get tired or trip over your own feet.


According to the National Institute for MentalHealth (NIMH) it is common to feel sad or discouraged when you are trying to manage a chronic condition. It becomes hard to adapt to the new reality and learning to cope with these changes. Depression is common among people who have chronic illnesses. Multiple Sclerosis is just one of many. Chronic illnesses include:

•  Cancer
• Coronary heart disease
• Diabetes
• Epilepsy
• Stroke
•  Alzheimer’s
• HIV/AIDS
• Parkinson’s
• Lupus Rheumatoid Arthritis

Depression affects your ability to carry on with daily life and to enjoy work, leisure, friends, and family. The health effects of depression go beyond mood – depression is a serious medical illness that carries certain stigmas with it.

*While depression strikes 20% of the general population, it affects about 50% of people living with MS, according to Rosalind Kalb, Ph.D. “And if you consider the people who feel down and depressed but don’t meet the criteria for clinical depression, that number is a lot higher,” she says.

“The adversity and disability itself can make people feel depressed,” says Anthony Feinstein, MBB, Ph.D. “There’s also the uncertainty – you can’t predict what your symptoms will be tomorrow, let alone in 20 years. The unknown can itself be a cause of depression.”

Few people want to admit to having depression, and people with MS are no exception. Three main factors get in the way of a diagnosis. The first is the persistent stigma against mental illness as if it’s a personal weakness or moral failure. The second is the mistaken belief that “I have MS-why wouldn’t I be depressed?” Third, people say “my body is betraying me, so I don’t want to think there’s also something going on with my mind. I’ve got enough problems with the physical stuff.”

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) states that “stigma is when someone, or even yourself, views a person in a negative way just because they have a mental health condition. Some people describe stigma as a feeling of shame or judgment from someone else. Stigma can even come from an internal place, confusing feeling bad with being bad.”

As my battle with MS continues, I fight every day to make it better than the last. I personally believe a positive attitude, a strong support group, and proper medical care – both physical and mental – are the best weapons I can arm myself with.

If reading this opens your eyes to the battles many people face that you may not be able to physically see, then I am happy. To be cliche, don’t judge people until you try to walk a mile in their shoes.