Thread by @Adam_Smith_82

It is #MSAwarenessWeek, so I’m going to do a quick thread about what it’s actually like to live with multiple sclerosis.

When I was diagnosed, my main symptoms were balance problems & double-vision. If I try to stand on one foot, I fall over. Not too much of an issue, coz 1/?

how often do you stand on one foot? Literally every time you walk. In other words, I’m really unsteady on my feet, which is even worse if I close my eyes. This obviously becomes problematic when you do something like have a shower and wash your head. When I’m out and about 2/?

I use a walking stick to give my brain more information about where I am. I can also lose my balance if I turn around too quickly, say, or look up, so having the walking stick presents me with a literal crutch in case I need it. There are other times balance matters too, but 3/?

that will give you a sense of how tricky everyday life can be. I do exercises to try to improve my balance, but it will never again be back to 100%. Part of what influences my balance is my eyesight. I mentioned I had double-vision when I was first diagnosed. That was awful 4/?

forcing me to either wear an eyepatch or else prisms over one lens of glasses, which corrected the vision when I was wearing the glasses but was still double in my peripheral vision. Speaking of which, if I try to look out of the side of my eye then my vision bounces around. 5/?

My muscle tries to pull my eye back round, as you can see from this video. The result is that I have move my entire head around to see things at my side. Imagine wearing a hood that cuts out your head peripheral vision & you’ll get a sense of what I mean. Anyway, in order to 6/?

(Forgot to attach the video before. It’s here)