Multiple sclerosis (MS) is unpredictable, and it is often a disabling disease of the central nervous system (CNS). It interrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the body. The exact cause of MS is currently unknown, but it is associated with the inflammation and degeneration within the CNS.

I’ve fallen apart many times. On my own, I am weak, but God is strong. It is Jesus who continuously upholds me. On my own, I’d surely falter.

Seems like a simple request, doesn't it? Well, scientific research has proven that pain is based on one's history and the brain’s exposure to it. Based on that alone, one would think that the understanding of the age and 0-10 pain scale rating would have changed by now.

Many of us who are living with chronic pain and induced by MS understand that there is actually no real scale. It is more of a spectrum with a pendulum that changes from moment to moment.

I personally experienced what is now categorized as chronic pain at a very early age. At the age of 16, I was operating daily at the pain graph's level 5. I have experienced extreme pain and fainting spells. However, my actual pain was attributed to growing pains by medical doctors. For years, I managed to smile through the pain. I frequented hospitals. However, my phantom
diagnoses remained.

Although I was often in extreme pain, I had to grow accustomed to it. Even after I lost my vision in one of my eyes at early 20s, MS was still not suggested. Finally, at the age of 28, in the wake of a tragedy, I was finally diagnosed with MS. That was more than 15 years ago.

Today, I am a patient living with MS’s ups and downs, and I am managing its symptoms with faith, diet, exercises, and MS-focused medications. MS is a mystery. Its cause is unknown. That mystery is different and often unpredictable for us all.

Thankfully, medical researchers, doctors, counselors, and advocates are working tediously to create awareness, medical advantages, and a cure to create a world without MS. However, there is still so much work to be done. We can all win the MS battle. Be encouraged because together, we are stronger!