I do believe that all the struggles we go through in life, even though we may not be able to see it at the time, only to make us stronger! We do not get to choose what difficulties we face throughout life, but we can decide how we cope we them. Every battle we tackle can teach us better ways to handle anything else the future holds for us.
Life is an uphill journey that we are always learning from. An experience you have endured previously can potentially help yourself not struggle as hard if faced with the same situation again or someone else moving forward. We all confront issues in life differently, so what works well for me may not work as well for someone else and visa versa.
Looking back at life I realize that some situations I thought were impossible, were not nearly as bad as I made them out to be. During high stress situations I think we may 
sometimes allow our emotions to have more control than necessary, instead of focusing on logic. Without a doubt I am very guilty of this because I always become very emotional when I am under a great deal of stress and put zero emphasis on being logical. In my sane and clear mind, I do know the only way to make it through difficult times is to look at the issues and find logical ways to fix the problems. For me personally being too emotional causes me to make irrational decisions that in the end never help myself or anyone else that was involved.
I believe while we are going through difficult times in our lives, we should be able to be open up with our feelings to at least one person! The difficult part might be the person you can always open up to is actually involved with what you are struggling with. Even though it may be hard and you feel like you are suffocating with stress, you still need to find a way to be open about your feelings. Sometimes I will bottle my feelings up which only causes additional stress but I really do not like confrontation!
I am still dealing with some issues from my exacerbation but I am doing much better. Honestly I can not say what is worse the pain or fatigue I feel everyday! Even though I have had a terrible head cold I have been able to work 5 hours each day this week and next week I will be doing at least 6 hours a day! It has been really hard for me to get back to my normal self, but I am not giving up my fight!
Thank you for reading and commenting on my short thoughts for today! I will respond to all comments and emails as soon as I am able. I hope y’all have had a good day! Take care and much love to y’all!
Always, Alyssa
evening I woke up several times feeling like I had the flu because I was cold but sweating and my body ached all over. Even the next morning I felt like I was still sick so I called the doctor worried. My doctor told me it was very common to have flu-like symptoms with Rebif and before my next dose I should premedicate with Advil or Tylenol, as they would combat those negative side effects. Of course me being the patient I think every doctor dreads having had a lot of questions! I could not understand why a medicine that was supposed to be helping me would cause me to be even sicker and require more medicine. My goal was to take as little medicine as possible and they were only increasing what I had to take.
acknowledge it, there would not be any consequences. I went as far to tell my doctor he was wrong and I did not have MS and I was getting a second opinion. I did exactly what I said and got a second opinion from another specialist. Those were two bad decisions all in a matter of a few months. I stopped taking anything for the MS and went to another doctor that did not seem to have as much knowledge. I ended up having my first bad exacerbation which caused me a lot of weakness and dizziness and I ended up back with my first doctor. As terrified as I was about going back to the doctor I told was wrong, he was very understanding about my feelings. This was also the first time the exacerbation was bad enough to require IV steroids. There were a few other medications I tried before finding the one that was best for me, which I will get to in my next post. These posts are taking a little longer because they are all emotionally draining for me. 
improved with my flare up. I was in a lot of pain by the end of the visit but I had a good time. I am so thankful for the wonderful family that I married into. There is always great conversations and fun times! While it was great to be around family, I was so happy when we got home so I could change into comfortable clothes and be surrounded by our wonderful fur babies!
on. I was truly blessed to have had my wonderful Grandfather in my life and my husband’s amazing Grandparents for so many years! My Grandfather and my husband’s Grandparents made such a positive impact on my life! They were by all means the most loving, accepting, compassionate and all around truly amazing people who ever walked the face of this earth. It makes me sad that they are no longer with us in the physical sense, but they will always be a strong part of our heart!
really has made me a stronger person. Plus, I do know that as much pain as I have been experiencing, it could be so much worse than it is. I am so grateful that I still have full function of all my body parts, even if they hurt like hell! I remember when I was first heard I had MS, I was terrified that I was going to be in a wheelchair. Even if someday I do have to use a wheelchair, I am old enough now to know my life will still carry on, I will still be able to do most things I do now but back then I thought it would be absolutely horrible. 
Another thing I am very thankful for is my blog and the amazing friends I have made through this. I have had the opportunity to communicate with people all over the world and learn not only about their experiences but also their country. Being able to learn so much about other countries I feel like I have almost traveled the world! 
of the work was completed. I get pretty determined and ambitious at times! I also told him that next week I am not promising to be back at 40 hours a week, but I would do as much as possible and wanted to just play my time by ear for now. He was very understanding and told me he definitely wants me to be back to work full time, but did not want me to rush myself. I do believe that my manager knows I value my work and want to be able to give all I do 100% but right now I do not have that ability, but I will get there!
book, that might end up being what I live by is called 
full-time hours and be perfectly fine, because that is just making an irrational assumption. If I had the ability to control all the pain I have, I would have done that weeks ago, so who is to say I will be able to have that control next week? I am doing the best I can right now with dealing with pain that does not seem to go away or even ease up and the stress all of this is causing me, if only I had a magic wand to make everything better!
hope you have had a great weekend! It is hard to believe tomorrow is already Monday and the weekend is over. Unfortunately, I was not able get anything done that I wanted to over the weekend but I guess there is always next weekend. The only thing that I really wanted to do over the weekend was get the rest of my donations together and bring them to Crisis Ministry. With the change in the weather, I want to be able to donate some sweaters, socks, jeans and hoodies to those that are struggling and give them some warmth and comfort.
but I had several reasons for starting my blog four months ago. I have always been very passionate about writing and did write a lot of poems. I also have a strong desire to help others that are going through hard times. When I learned about blogging, I thought it would be the perfect way to use two of my passions and hopefully be able to do something good for others.
It is so true that when it rains it pours. I guess it is almost a good thing for all bad things to happen all at the same time, because once you get through all the negative, good days will follow! Y’all know that I went through one heck of a flare up but at the same time my husband was battling with his own chronic pain. He suffers from migraines and terrible neck problems that literally nothing seems to help. Thankfully, my job was very understanding about my issues but I almost think it is because their hands were tired. Now his job on the other hand was not as understanding which is really ashame. Many people in this world have something that they have to deal with, but of course there is a lack of understanding from co-workers, friends and even family sometimes. I think that if someone does not have any kind of pains they deal with or have a family member with something similar they just can not relate. I will never understand why it takes most people to have someone close to them that suffers from an illness for them to be truly care. I have said it before, but there is a difference in empathy and sympathy but they are both very important. I can say from my own personal experience, it is frustrating and lonely when you feel like no one understands or even cares to try to understand what you are dealing with in life. 
to our lives on a daily basis. Animals are wonderful, because they have not been tarnished with all the hate, greed, jealousy and cruelty that society brings into our lives. Our cats do not know hate they only show unconditional love to us and each other. I am so thankful for them and all their love! I wish people today could learn something from animals love!
like to see me in pain. Even though my husband has been dealing with his own struggles, he tries to be my rock and assure me that my pain issues will get better. My in-laws are wonderful people who are always trying to do what they can to help their loved ones. My mother in law is a lot like me and wants to see the good in people. With all the hatred in the world today, it is sometimes so hard to see the good but it is important to at least try. My sister-in-law came to our house last night with our niece and let me just say, that little girls laughter can brighten the room so easily. This 5 year old girl has more sense and can carry on a conversation better than most people I come in contact with daily! When I was growing up, my family was not close at all, so I never really understood how important a strong family bond was. I did always have a strong connection with my Grandfather, but that was all I knew besides my mother. I am delighted that my mother and I have always been able to maintain our relationship, even through really hard times. I am so incredibly thankful for the family love my husband has brought into my life! I am truly thankful to finally understand a true family bond!
started crying again because he had just classified me as a MS Patient and I was not ready for that yet. He continued with explaining what the MRI results were. He told me that I had several lesions in my brain and in my spine, but we may be able to reduce their size by using steroids. He told me that my MRI results indicated that, yes I did in fact definitely have MS and I needed to start thinking of medication to take to slow the progression. He asked if anyone in my family had MS and I told him no one had MS. He did say it was good that we were able to catch this while I was young because we had a better chance of controlling it and that to date I was his youngest patient, oh what luck I have!
somehow control the illness. I did not know anyone that had MS besides my father’s wife so I did not have many people to talk to about it. I actually did my best to hide it from most people because I felt too much shame that I had an incurable illness that I would have to live with for the rest of my life. At that time there were only a handful of people who knew what I was going through, which were my mother and grandfather who were so supportive and caring! For the few shots I had to do my mother came to my house to help me because I just could not do the shot at first. It is truly amazing what we can all learn to live with, especially when we know there is no other option!
Fightmsdaily 