Multiple Sclerosis as Young as 17

What’s the Diagnosis, Doc?

I remember back when I was in high school, thinking I was really heavy. All the kids used to laugh at me and call me names – like “thunder thighs”, “lard ass”, “big ass”…you name it they called me it. I was embarrassed when it was P.E. time, I didn’t want to put those skimpy little shorts on, you remember the one’s from the 80’s that barely covered your butt cheeks?

My thighs stuck out a mile long, and I tried covering them up by typing a jacket or shirt around my waste so it would hang over my thighs. I couldn’t run easily because of my weight and asthma. The other kids used to tease me, laugh at me and I felt like such an outcast. I hated being me. I hated the fact that I inherited the “fat gene” and that no matter what new diet I tried, I would lose a few pounds and put it right back on, plus some.

During my junior year in high school, I started having problems with my knuckles, they would stiffen up, ache and sometimes throb. This went on for a least the first two semesters. During the last semester, I remember being in gym class (Jazzercise) and noticed my knuckles were stiff as a board and they were blue.

It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen. I remember running out of gym class, running down the long hallway to the telephone to call my Mom. I told her what was going on, she told me to get dressed and she would drive me to the doctor. The doctor ran a bunch of tests – blood, x-rays & examined my knuckles.

When the tests came back, it didn’t show anything abnormal. The doctors were baffled as to what would cause my knuckles to turn blue.

A few months later I was referred to a specialist who ran the same types of tests and within a week of the results coming back I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, at the young age of 17.

Written by: Author Jennifer L. Martin