Living with Multiple Sclerosis

The day before her 41st birthday in 1991, Vicki Pingel of Cape Girardeau learned that she had multiple sclerosis (MS).

"There was a certain amount of relief knowing that, yes there is something wrong and it has a name," she said.

The tingling sensation in her feet that came and went gradually increased up her legs all the way to her chest and stayed. After her diagnosis, Pingel began using the first injectable treatment for MS which has kept the disease from progressing. Still, she fatigues easily, has muscle spasms and sometimes has trouble with her memory.

"People trying to be kind say 'I have that too,' and I think yes you do, but you don't have it like I have," she said of the memory loss.

Pingel said that she learned earlier, when life threw single parenthood her way, and more recently when she lost her father and her fiance, that you just have to take things as they come and do what has to be done.

She also relies on help from the MS Support Group and appreciates that the MS Foundation has opened a satellite office in Cape Girardeau to educate the public about MS.

"We have a network in the Cape area that takes an interest in MS and keeps us abreast of research and current treatments," she said.

The MS support group meets monthly. For more information, call 332-5107.