Hello. I wanted to share an experience I had about three years ago–one that continues to haunt me. I worry that these debilitating symptoms will return someday.
When I was in my second year of law school I was an obsessive worker. I was doing entirely too many activities. I was then, and am now, addicted to caffeine. I picked up the habit of DRINKING TWO LITERS OF DIET-SODA per DAY!
At one point of extreme stress (I was up for almost two days straight) I began to have paroxysmal attacks. These, if you are unfamiliar, are seizure-like symptoms that are occasionally found in Multiple Sclerosis patients.
These symptoms–including temporary double vision, slurred speech and a lack of coordination on the right side of my body, worsened over a two month period.
For some strange reason, after two weeks of symptoms I stopped drinking diet soda. I was eventually diagnosed with MS–a diagnosis my neurologist later recanted when I made a complete recovery. I took an anti-seizure medication–Dilantin–and my symptoms went away over a two week period.