I once heard that when you've seen one person with MS, you've seen one person with MS. It is so very true! I was diagnosed with MS in 1980. This was before the MRI or any disease modifying drugs. I was 22, but I know I had symptoms when I was 19. I was in college, working, and loving life. BOOM! My parents were frantic, but never really showed it. As the 3rd of six children in an Irish Catholic family, I've always been the caregiver and peacemaker who worries about everyone else. I just adopted the assumption that if my family sees that I'm okay, they'll be okay. And they were. I spent decades being hospitalized several times a year for steroid treatments for flare-ups, but I was always an athlete and kept doing what I do, basketball, racquetball, softball, and a lot of beer drinking after. No matter the obstacle, there was always a modification. Double vision, I wore a patch to pitch and play racquetball. Can't play softball or basketball, I started cycling; A LOT! Loss of strength and can't ride my road bike anymore, I got a pedal assisted electric bike. Then I got a better one. Sold my awesome electric bike because my vision and balance issues could be dangerous, so I take virtual spin classes and lift weights daily. Fast forward 45 years later. My neuro tells me I have SPMS. I drive with hand controls and have a scooter permanently in my van. I have foot drop; limited strength in both legs; debilitating fatigue (for which I take Adderall). I have double vision; I have to strait catheter 6 times a day and deal with repeated UTIs, and I my short term memory is non-existent. I can't ambulate independently, so I mostly use a rollator, but have canes, crutches, strategically placed all over our property so I am never "stranded". The massive amount of steroids I've been given have forced me to have fusions in my c-spine and my lumbar spine, but thanks to working out, I don't have osteoporosis. Yeah, I have SPMS, and if you arrive at this place, you can have quality of life. Explore your options. My feeling is that I will be ok as long as there are options, adaptations, or macgyvers. If all goes according to plan, I hope to obtain a pedal assisted recumbent bike, and ride it from California to NYC next spring. I'll keep the network posted! We have to keep moving, no matter how we move.... :)

I agree with Shannon wholeheartedly. I've had it for 40 years. I don't look at like a disability. I'm walking and have an occasional flare every now and then. One so far hospitalized me. I work full-time and stand on my feet. Yes, I have aches, pains, fatigue and numbness etc. I just keep pushing on

I personally don't think you should round us all up and say we will eventually become "disabled".

It really boils down to where your lesions are located in my opinion and that’s what sets us apart.

I've had MS for 42 years, now I'm SPMS and honestly it just gets harder over time. I'm the one that thanked God for MS so that I could stay home and raise my son. I’ve always been able to find something else to help with it, Like a Leg Brace for foot drop, taking almost every one of the new drugs to prevent progression, and now I have a power chair and a van to haul it. But to be honest at this point in my like at 63, I don't mind staying home, watching TV or reading. I swim as much as I can and the water has saved me. Just do everything you want to do now while you can, like travel because it may get too hard to do later. In our situation waiting to travel until we retire is probably not as much of an option. God is my refuge.