Okay, I offered to be a "host" in this group, whatever that means. It was mostly just

[tpsbmam]

16. Such a diverse disease!

I have to admit to a touch of envy -- as much as I find pain so much more noxious than many of the things I've gone through, I can't even convey the degree to which it, well, pains me not to be able to continue working & being a vital part of society!

I, too, got my Ph.D. while I had MS. As a matter of fact, I got the first symptoms and the diagnosis shortly after returning to school! One of my early symptoms was fatigue -- that started noticeably a couple of years before the diagnosis. (The diagnosis came after I was up early studying and most of my left side went numb -- I thought I was having a stroke.) I went right back to school and, throughout full-time grad school, worked half time (well.....20-30 hours/week).

I LOVED my profession and I LOVED working! Unfortunately, the combo of overwhelming fatigue (even with the very awesome...for me....Nuvigil, I often crash a few hours after getting up.....it just doesn't happen daily with the Nuvigil) and multiple mild to moderate cognitive symptoms (memory, with prospective memory being the worst; disorganization; attention/concentration; slowed processing) made it impossible to keep working. And engaging in cognitively taxing tasks (e.g., reading!) is exhausting -- THAT sucks!