I have Multiple Sclerosis And I feel good.

About me? Well, this photo just about sums it up—camera-shy, imperfect, a bit messy and pretty silly. My life has always had a ton of adversity. But the biggest thing to rock my world in recent years was getting diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and it's the whole reason I became a health coach.

June 2015, two weeks after my honeymoon…a day after my husband got signed a record contract, I got (what I thought the time) the worst news of my life.

I was living in New York. Sitting at my usual lunch spot—having what I used to call my "window salad." I'd usually watch the busy people rush by while I scarfed down my meal to hurry back to my stress ball of a job as a Design Director. But before I could even take the lid off of the plastic bowl, the phone rang.

"I had vertigo for two weeks straight, buzzing hands and feet, and was losing my strength in my left hand."

Leading up to the wedding, I had vertigo for two weeks straight, buzzing hands and feet, and was losing my strength in my left hand. I was nervous, so I got checked out right after we got back from the honeymoon. They said that they needed to rule out that it wasn't a tumor in my brain or MS. NBD. But the neurologist assured me during the exams that I didn't present like someone who'd have MS and that I shouldn't be worried. I had been harassing her for my test results. And you know what comes next.

After she gave me the news, I couldn't remember anything else that she said. I was in utter shock — tears flooding. My world spun out. I had to get out. I had to tell my new husband but he was working. Oh, no, I'll text him. "MS," I wrote. Over previous weeks I had been texting to say, oh hey I'm a Mrs. now. So I frantically typed. "Not Mrs. It's MS. MS. I have MS!!!" I was having a panic attack as I bawled pacing the busy streets of downtown New York. Kevin tried his best to calm me down.

After a few days, I got connected to top-notch MS specialists referred to me by friends of friends of friends. I so hoped that they could help me. One of them was a doctor in his 70's at Rutger's. He was supposed to be The Best (with a capital "T,")—a lifetime working with MS patients. What happened next, was a giant kick in the teeth.

“Eat what you want.
It doesn’t matter. It will only get worse for you.”

He took a glance at my MRI, and said, "Yup, you have MS. Best thing you can do is to get on medication right away. Here's a list of drug options." He scribbled down about a dozen names. "It doesn't matter which one, just pick one." I asked him, "what I should eat or do?" He said, "Eat what you want. It doesn't matter. It will only get worse for you. So just keep living your life as usual, but get on the medications right away." He spoke to Kevin, as if I wasn't even in the room. He never looked me in the eye during this entire exchange. Not once.

“…discovered Dr. Terry Wahls’ Ted Talk…”