On 03/26/2016, I was out shopping with my best friend when out of nowhere the top part of my right eye started throbbing. I figured that I had gotten something in it. By 03/29/2016, the pain in my right eye was excruciating; my vision was also impaired and at this point, I decided to go to the hospital. Once I got to the ER, the doctor did an eye exam, ordered labs, and a CT scan. Although the results of the labs and CT scan came back normal, the doctor consulted with an Ophthalmologist from another hospital. The Ophthalmologist told the doctor to run an MRI scan, one with contrast and one without contrast. The results of the MRI scan showed that I had optic neuritis, and I was told that it's commonly linked to Multiple Sclerosis. Later, I was transported to a larger hospital to start a steroid regimen and have a full neurological work up, I was hospitalized for 12 days. During those 12 days I received a 7-day course of IV steroids, I underwent multiple MRI scans, blood draws, and had a lumbar puncture (as well as a blood patch to fix the massive headache the LP gave me); everything seemed to always come back to a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. On 05/02/2016 at my first outpatient appointment with the Neurologist it was finally confirmed; I have Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. The Neurologist expressed that I needed to start a disease-modifying therapy, as soon as possible, recommending Copaxone (an injection) and Tecfidera (a pill), but he also said that I needed to do my own research to see what I thought would work best for me. The disease-modifying drug I decided on was Tecfidera, in which, I started taking on 05/27/2016. My reason for choosing Tecfidera is that (1) the common side effects were no stranger to me, (2) the risk of PML, is rare, but can be monitored with frequent labs, and (3) it's a pill (I hate injections).
