'Cause what's prettier than orange?

Besides purple of course!  Of course.  So besides purple, I love orange.  I have a faux ostrich bag that's ginormous and orange.  I love to wear orange, I love to see it, orange is just a really great color.  So I've said that purple is the official color of Fibromyalgia.  I adore purple because it represents fighting Fibromyalgia.  So if I was gonna add another disease to this, what color would I add?  Orange.  Hands down, I'd add orange.  Well, add orange I did.  Can't be caught dead with an ugly color, right?

On Friday, I got the shock of a lifetime.  I have Multiple Sclerosis.

You see, what I didn't know, was that 1/3 of people with Fibromyalgia start to feel better.  1/3 of people with Fibromyalgia stay the same, they don't progress in the disease, they don't get better in the disease.  So what about about the final third of people with Fibromyalgia?  You got it, we're the ones that progress into something worse.  Multiple Sclerosis.  No one's quite sure why Fibromyalgia is the beginning of M.S., but it is.  Fibromyalgia is often referred to as "baby M.S."  Dude, how could I not have known that?  With all my research, I didn't know that.  You've heard of M.S., you've heard it's bad, you've heard it's an auto-immune disease.  You never really hear that Fibromyalgia can lead to it.  Having Fibromyalgia, I've always feared M.S.  Once you have one auto-immune disease, the chances of getting another jump up significantly.  I did know that, I didn't know Fibromyalgia was "baby M.S."  I was scared of getting M.S. 'cause you hear it's bad, and you know your chances go up because you're already sick, but really?  The two are closely related?  I had no idea.  So what now?  Yeah, the idea is still the same.  There's the percentages of people who stay the same, then there's those that advance into something worse.  Kinda makes you wonder.  If I was one of the lucky Fibrotics to advance into M.S., does that mean.....?  I dunno.  All I know is that I'll fight like hell.  I'm not an easy person to take down.  Sure, I need help washing my hair, tying my shoes, um, pooping, I don't know, I can't remember what I need help with.  I need constant help now.  Besides all that, I'm fighting pretty hard mentally.  I have four small children, and a perfect beyond perfect husband.  That's a whole lot to fight for.

It's almost a relief to have M.S., ya know that?  I was getting really tired of people saying, "well, I have Fibromyalgia, and if I can do it, so can you."  Or, "Fibromyalgia's something you can overcome.  I know someone who did."  Guess what?  You don't know anyone who's overcome M.S., do ya?  No one really gets better with M.S., and I can't even tell you how many people have said, "I know someone who died of M.S."  He he, thanks.  That's exactly what I wanted to hear.  Besides that, it's nice to know that something was found, and I knew my symptoms were a little more extreme than most people I know with Fibromyalgia.  I almost find a sense of peace, as bizarre as that sounds.

So what is Multiple Sclerosis?  M.S. as it is commonly called, is a disease of the brain, just like Fibromyalgia.  So it's true, just like I told you.  I have severe brain damage.  :)

M.S. is an auto-immune disease.  It's an auto-immune, because yeah, you got it, it attacks itself.  Our brain transmits messages all the time along our nerves.  Surrounding these transmitters are what's called Myelin.  It's a nice, warm blanket that surrounds our nerves.  It's what keeps our messages in.  If we didn't have that protector, the messages from our brains would never make it to their destinations.  It would be like taking a train off its tracks.  Without train tracks, the train can't go anywhere.  Without something to hold it in place, messages that get sent from the brain never make it to where they're going.  In Multiple Sclerosis, that's exactly what's happening.  The Myelin sheath around the nerves in our brain have eroded.  Messages are no longer received.  That's why people with M.S. can go blind, become paralyzed, or can't walk straight.  The nerves can no longer do their job, receiving or transmitting messages.  What's more, is that the body sees the damaged Myelin sheath as an invader.  It attacks the Myelin and nerve, making everything worse.  That's why M.S. is an auto-immune disease.  My body is attacking itself, NOT the foreign object it thinks it's attacking.    

Here's a video that illustrates exactly what M.S. is:

So there it is.  Yes, I still get to rock the purple.  I still have Fibromyalgia.  I just get to rock orange now, too.

So it's no wonder why I'm so tired.  That's a lot to rock out to.

If you have Fibromyalgia, stay on top of your symptoms.  M.S. is a provable disease.  I know starting out with Fibromyalgia can make you really weary of doctors, like me.  But Fibromyalgia has a very good chance of turning into M.S.  No, it doesn't change my symptoms, it only added a new name to what I've been feeling.  It does shake up the treatment plan a little more, though.  Do your research, and be aware of your body.