I’m Stefanie, I’m 23 years old living in southwest Germany with my two cats and my husband. We are currently waiting for our little baby to come into the world, due in November.
Things I love in life include spending time in nature, visiting friends and travelling around the world. In the last 6 years I’ve visited a lot of different countries and I’m so grateful for this. There are so many beautiful places on this earth. But in the end, I love spending time at home with my family, have you ever heard of Black Forest? That’s where I live!
Last year we were travelling to Thailand and while I’m on holiday I love to read books. I went into our library before we left and searched for some new books to read. Then I accidentally found the book ‘Overcoming MS’, which I found very interesting.
I started to read the book while I was sunbathing and I couldn’t stop reading it. It was a different point of view for me. From this day, in September 2018, I started to follow the OMS program. It was fresh hope for me and my MS.
I had been given my diagnosis in June 2017 and I was shocked, because I always thought of myself as a ‘healthy’ person. I started my therapy with Tecfidera and went on living without thinking about other lifestyle changes. I am so happy that destiny helped me find the OMS program.
Now, it’s close to one year of following the program. My body is stronger and I feel so much better, especially due to the nutrition. At first it was hard to find so many alternatives, particularly when you are so addicted to cake and ice cream like me! But there are so many possibilities to make them in a healthy way. Do you know about nice cream? I looooove it!
At this time the only part of the program I struggled with was reducing my stress levels. I think this is the hardest part, but with meditation and writing in my journal I’m on a good path. Everyone must find his or her own way to reduce stress. Stress is the trigger of so many diseases.
In my medical history I had two acute phases. One was in 2015, a classic optic neuritis. At this time I didn’t think about the possibility of it being MS. So I carried on with my life until June 2017 when I had my second acute phase (which was by the way my last).
In June, it started with a tingle in my left hand and it continued with numbness in my fingers, my arm and the left side of my body. I felt lucky because after a few days with cortisone therapy I got feeling and motion back. Only sometimes, when I’ve had a long or stressful day, I feel my left arm prickle again. But that’s ok. That’s when I know, it’s time to take things slowly and think about me.
Now I will tell you about March 2019, when I found out that I was pregnant! First thing I did after my visit to the gynecologist was phone my neurologist, to ask if I should stop taking Tecfidera. She informed me that I should, so I stopped my therapy after one and a half years.
I was afraid in case I experienced another acute phase after coming off Tecfidera. I was particularly nervous because my first and second phases were two years apart, and another two years had passed since my last phase.
But it’s all fine! I feel so good. It’s such a pleasure for me be pregnant. My arm no longer prickles, only on very rare moments! My whole pregnancy has been so good, I don’t even have any physical complaints which I’ve heard other pregnant women complain of.
Now I’m very curious about what will happen next for me. My neurologist told me that after the birth, it could be more likely that I have a relapse, but now I’m on the OMS program, I hope that this will reduce the probability of a relapse.
Comment below if you have any questions for me or my pregnancy. I hope I can tell you in November or December about my beautiful baby.
I hope you all stay healthy and with fresh hope for your story. I think the OMS program is a realistic way for people with MS to stay healthy.