I was officially diagnosed with multiple sclerosis on March 3rd, 2003 at the age of 19. I've had signs and symptoms as early as the age of 13. Being a teenager, the concerns I voiced were invalidated and brushed off as puberty. In my early teens I noticed occasionally I felt extremely fatigued and had issues with memory and focus.
Early one morning on a cold February day in 2003 I was driving home from being with my girlfriend at the time over the weekend. As I was driving, I noticed I had visual problems. When I looked straight and to the right I saw fine but when I looked left I saw double. When I finally arrived home, my family said I looked cock-eyed every time I looked left. I made an appointment with an optometrist to see what was going on.
From there I had a series of blood work done to rule out possible common reasons. I was later referred to an ophthalmologist for further testing. After a myriad of tests I was then referred to a neurologist as the ophthalmologist suspected several issues that were possible. The vision problem I was experiencing was known as 6th cranial nerve palsy. Basically the nerve that controls muscle movement for your eye is experiencing inflammation which can cause your eye not to move in a certain direction. After examination of an MRI and lumbar puncture I was confirmed to having MS.
