Biography

I have been married for 23 years and have a 20 year old son, I am approaching my 40th Birthday and currently in the midst of a relapse of both Crohn’s Disease and MS.

I was Diagnosed with Crohns Disease, after 6 months of symptoms, on my 25th Birthday and began taking medication for this.

I was 31 when I woke up one morning unable to feel my right side from the waist down. After many appointments with many doctors, I was referred to a Neurologist who did an MRI and confirmed the diagnosis of RRMS. Diagnosis took 10 months from the on start of the symptoms and I am grateful that it was this quick, as I know others who had waited years to be diagnosed and treated.

I found a study in a medical journal after my diagnosis that claimed a link between medication for Crohns Disease and the cause of the onset of MS. I spoke to my Neurologist about the article and subsequent studies and she confirmed that there was in fact a suspected link.

For the past 8 years, my MS symptoms have all been sensory, which I feel very lucky about. Right now I have a numb patch of skin on my leg and a permanent taste of salt in my mouth, but my mobility and cognitive functions are not affected.

My most recent flare came about in June of this year when I scratched my leg with a root of a bush, whilst removing it from my garden, this became infected and caused the numbness in my leg, the following day I had a flare up of Crohns Disease and this in turn blocked my appendix, causing appendicitis and a hospital admission for a triple cocktail of IV antibiotics to settle it all down.

I am treated for Crohn’s Disease with daily Azathioprine, 8 weekly infusions of vedolizumab and due to a B12 deficiency caused by the disease I have this injected every 11 weeks. My MS was treated originally with Beta Interferon injections every 2 days but due to the time it takes for each site to heal I was moved to Plegridy, which I inject every 2 weeks.