My name is Amy Ironmonger.
 
I turned 18 in August and I was diagnosed in September last year.
 
It all started when had a fall in the bath, I banged my head etc, I then got out of the bath and fell down the stairs.  I was sitting at work the next day, I work on computers, and noticed that my eyesight wasn't quite right, I thought I needed glasses so went to my optician, she checked my eyes and recommended that I go to my doctor.  I did this and he could tell that something was wrong, but didn't know what, so referred me to an eye specialist.  He discovered that I was partially sighted and could not see out of the side of both my eyes.  I was then sent for a CT Scan which revealed that I had inflammation in my brain.
 
This was probably the scariest part as I was told there were 1 in 50 possibilities of what it was, I had so much running through my head, everything from loss of memory to brain operations to dying! My doctor and eye specialist were brilliant with me, they were there in a flash whenever I needed them and I couldn't ask for anything better.
 
I then had to wait on a MRI scan, this took a few months but when I had it done the results came back and showed that I had a lot of scar tissue in my brain.  From this I was diagnosed with MS and told they thought I had had it for a while, just never been to my doctor complaining about anything. 
 
It took a lot of sinking in, when I was first diagnosed I didn't have a clue what MS was, I just knew it was an incurable disease.  My family and friends were there for me all the time and really really good.  I couldn't have asked for anything better from them either.
 
Since I was diagnosed last September I have got the attitude now that, yes I have MS but it is not going to beat me.  Instead of moping around I decided to fight it and start raising as much money as possible for it!
 
I am now on the daily injection of Copaxone which is working really well with me.  Since the relapse in my eyes passed I had a spell of numbness in my face but that quickly passed.  I have been doing good since - and fingers crossed I will be able to stay good for a long time.

Amy

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