Then one morning she woke up with no feeling in her abdomen. Within weeks, she had been turned down for an MRI by her insurer, referred to a mental health clinic for her allegedly psychosomatic complaint, lost all feeling from her rib cage to her feet, been admitted to UCLA Medical Center as a charity case and told to apply for permanent disability benefits. Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease in which the body mistakenly identifies the central nervous system as an intruder and attacks, causing inflammation and permanent damage to nerves. Symptoms include fatigue, numbness, chronic pain, vision problems, loss of balance, slurred speech and incontinence. MS symptoms appear, then disappear and re-appear, in a cycle known as relapse and remission.
Cycles can last for months or even years.
More than half of all people nationwide with MS are unable to work. In order to get the medication and treatment she needed, Yafai quickly realized she needed to take control. You have to use resources. Self-advocacy is essential, according to Nancy Holland, Vice President of Clinical Programs for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. While new, highly effective MS drugs hit the market in the 1990s, many primary care doctors still don't know they exist.