31 Days of MS: Aiming for a better tomorrow with multiple sclerosis

Photo courtesy of Suni Conway

Day 31 of 31

This is Suni Conway’s story:

I spent seven years battling strange and unexplainable symptoms with little support and even less hope that things would get better. When asking for help, I was doubted and made to feel just as invisible as the mysterious disease disrupting my life.

After spending most of my 20s in this dark place, I finally was told that what I was experiencing had a name: I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in December 2018.

Though I’ve struggled with my health, and suffered more than I ever thought I’d have to at such an early age, I can’t ignore that having MS has made me a better person. I am far more appreciative of my health and wellness, good days, the movement of my body, moments of clarity, and the precious time we’re given with our loved ones. It’s caused me to take more initiative to learn, and be a part of important discussions about the way we treat people searching for and living with a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease.

Having MS didn’t make my life easier, far from it. But it has made the difficult day-to-day reality more rewarding than I ever would have imagined.

Sure, there are millions of other ways I may have come to appreciate those things, but it’s been living with MS that was the catalyst for these positive changes. I don’t know if or when I may have reached the same conclusions. But I did so because I was faced with the choice to either hate something that will be part of me for the foreseeable future, or work to understand it and go forward as best I can.

I struggle with numbness, cognitive fog, joint pain, confusion, dizziness, immobility, overstimulation, incontinence — a list that seems to grow beyond my control. However, since being diagnosed, I take better care of myself. I’ve lost 90 pound, I eat better, and I move in ways that feel good to my mind and body. I treat myself well and I make time to do the things that will give me the best chance of a better tomorrow.

Multiple Sclerosis News Today’s 31 Days of MS campaign will publish one story per day for MS Awareness Month in March. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more stories like this, using the hashtag #31DaysofMS, or read the full series.