The medication is about to be begin....

I felt a little wierd on Saturday afternoon as I collected my first dose of medication to help treat my condition.

Just to bring you up to speed, here is the story so far!!!

In May last year, I exhibited at a security exhibition for the newly formed ADI Gardiner at Sandown Park in London. While assembling my stand, I thought I pulled something in my back and I can describe a funny pain down my right side of my body. I also felt a little off balance. However, after unloading a boot full of weighty security gear, I thought I had just twitched something.

Over the coming 6 weeks, I recall the funny pain remaining, and then developing pins and needles in my right side and also experiencing sciatica pain in buttocks and down my right leg.

Eventually, I went to see my doctor who refered me to Renacres Hall hospital (I am very lucky to have private medical insurance with my job) and ulitmately, I ended up having an MRI scan of my back. The MRI showed a slipped disk in my lower back and the diagnosis of a severe nerve concussion was given and I was told to do some physio.

Well the physio helped a little but in July, Kerris (my lovely wife and best mate) and I went to a my friends, Dario and Annie Campobassi's wedding in Montreal, Canada. For the full trip I had a loss of sensation in my groin area and also no feeling when I went to the toilet (sorry to be descriptive). By that I dont mean that I had potty accidents, but I just knew it was time for the toilet but I did not feel the actual act as it happened!!!

OK, the gross bit is over now!!!

Well it all seemed to clear up over the coming weeks and months and it was not until October 2006 that I returned to Renacres after having balance problems as I was walking up and down stairs. I had spent a lot of time in London on the underground and I was really struggling with the stairs, especially on my left side.

Over the next few months, my balance started to affect my everyday walking and after walking for about half a mile at any time, I would feel that I really had to concentrate on planting my left leg down on the floor. In the end, in early January 2007, I returned to the doctor when I was walking back to my car and lost my balance on some steps that led into a car park and fell down them, taking my son (Jay - aged 3) with me!!!

So along with the balance problems, lately I have developed a pain in my left side that lasts for about a minute and can only be best described as a cramp feeling. When it happens, I have to drop everything and just go with it until it has passed. It can happen anywhere between 5-15 times in a day and seems to most affect me when I am lying down.

I returned to the doctor once again and was refered to Renacres again and an MRI of my upper back and neck showed some nerve inflamation, only very slightly though. I also had an MRI of my brain that showed very little of the symptoms of something like MS. The consultant I am under suggested a Lumbar Puncture to exclude certain conditions from my diagnosis but it was at this time that the word MS was banded about a little more.

The lumbar puncture happened a week later (you have to love BUPA) and the results came through about a week after that. The results confirmed the consultants suspicions and basically I have nerve inflamation that can only be diagnosed as Mylitis right now but ultimately, it will be monitored over time to see if it is going to develop into MS.

So we need to start treating this and to be honest, its best to treat it as MS to control it in the future. Other conditions that I could have use the same drugs anyway.

So today, I got my short course of steroids to take over 5 days next week. As I collected them, thats when it hit home that for the time to come, my life wont be the same again. Hopefully these steroids will clear my current problems and also there is a chance that I may never have any symptoms ever again. There is no pattern to MS, no roadmap, no agenda, it has no uniform development, each case is different.

So I start the steroids tomorrow, and I am off work for the week as they may have side affects that dont agree with me but then this is why the blog now exists so that I can record each day and see what develops....I will let you know how it goes.