Mia

To be closer to her grandson, Mia moved from a small town in California back to her home city. Six months later, she began to experience “full-on vertigo”, constant vomiting, and an inability to walk. After going to the hospital, her urologist sent Mia to get a bladder scan and an MRI to test her for bladder cancer and MS. When sitting in the waiting room for her bladder scan, Mia realized that she had every single symptom of MS except for sexual dysfunction. She delayed getting the MRI for six weeks, but soon after that she was diagnosed with MS.

Immediately after being diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting MS, Mia began a Rituxan infusion. Two nights after her infusion, Mia was unable to urinate and ended up in the emergency room in intolerable pain. Every six months, Mia would receive her Rituxan infusion which made her incontinence worse and resulted in urinary tract infections. She and her MS specialist decided that the Rituxan was making her more susceptible to infection and she no longer takes any disease-modifying medications. Mia’s diagnosis was also changed to Primary Progressive MS. She feels herself getting weaker, especially on the right side of her body which has been affecting her gait. She now has a hard time walking and uses a cane when going out.

Mia was diagnosed with depression in her late teens which greatly influenced her reaction to her diagnosis. She remembers not being able to “kick the depression” when she was diagnosed, prompting her psychologist to increase her antidepressant dosage which has proven helpful for Mia. She also takes a Low Dose Naltrexone to help improve her quality of life and deal with MS.

Mia had difficulty understanding what happened to her body as she had always been so healthy. Because MS is an invisible disease, Mia feels that her family thought that she was faking it all the time. Mia brought her dad with her to an MS specialist appointment where she told the doctor that she did not know how to make her family understand her diagnosis. The doctor helped her by communicating clearly with her family who became more accepting and supportive after the appointment. Mia believes that her MS experience has made her more empathetic towards others and helped her to realize that “you never know what other people are dealing with. So be nice to everybody.” She has come to terms with her MS and feels that it does not impact her life the way it used to, as far as being sad and lonely and not doing things. She would like the people close to her to learn more about MS because it is so encompassing, “it involves my whole everything.” Mia has difficulty differentiating between her MS symptoms and those that arise because of aging. She notes that “everything doesn’t have to do with my MS. Sometimes I’m just getting older.”

Mia has two sons, a grandson, and a boyfriend. She is thankful that she still can garden and looks to her stepmom’s best friend who also has MS, for support.