Living with multiple sclerosis means learning to trust a body that has been sending you signals for years — sometimes decades — before anyone thought to listen. Looking back, I believe my MS journey started in high school, when I was experiencing spasticity and what I now know was the MS hug. It would be years before I had a name for any of it.
If you are newly diagnosed, or still searching for answers, you are not alone in that disorienting space between something is wrong and now I know what it is.
This is where I share what I have learned — not as a medical professional, but as someone who has been navigating this disease from the inside for a long time.
Here you’ll find:
- What MS actually feels like to live with, beyond the clinical definitions
- Personal experience with symptoms like spasticity, heat intolerance, brain lesions, and fatigue
- Resources and articles to help you understand what your body is doing
- Honest stories from someone who has been there
Browse the articles below and take what helps.
Featured Articles
My Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis (With Tips On How to Get a Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis)
Getting an MS diagnosis is rarely quick or straightforward. This is my story of the moment it became official, along with practical tips for anyone who is still fighting to get answers — because knowing what to ask and how to advocate for yourself can make all the difference.
Multiple Sclerosis Signs and Symptoms
There are more than 80 documented symptoms of MS, which is part of why it goes undiagnosed for so long. This article breaks down the most common ones, explains how symptom location connects to lesion placement, and includes my own experience with the symptoms that showed up long before I had a name for them.
14 Diseases that Mimic Multiple Sclerosis
MS is one of the most misdiagnosed neurological conditions there is — because so many other diseases look exactly like it. This article covers 14 conditions that mimic MS symptoms, which can help you ask better questions and advocate more effectively in appointments, whether you are newly diagnosed or still searching for answers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
When you are newly diagnosed, the questions come fast and the answers are hard to find in plain language. This article covers the most important FAQs about MS — what it is, how it works, what to expect — written from the perspective of someone who has lived it.
A Personal Guide to Managing Spasticity
Spasticity was something I now believe I was experiencing as far back as high school, long before I had any idea what it was. This is my personal guide to what spasticity actually feels like from the inside, and the strategies that have helped me manage it over the years.
Chronic Illness Symptom Comparison: Fibromyalgia, CFS, MS & Lyme Disease (With Infographic)
If you have ever wondered whether what you are feeling is MS or something else entirely, you are not the first. This article walks through how fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, MS, and Lyme disease overlap and differ — symptom by symptom — with an infographic to help you see it clearly.
More Content
- Chronic Illness Symptom Comparison: Fibromyalgia, CFS, MS & Lyme Disease (With Infographic)
- 14 Diseases that Mimic Multiple Sclerosis
- Living with MS Brain Lesions: My Experience and What Helps Me Cope
- Multiple Sclerosis vs Primary Progressive Aphasia: What I’ve Learned About Speech Struggles
- Living with MS Heat Sensitivity: Symptoms, Management, and Personal Experience
- When Was Multiple Sclerosis First Diagnosed?
- A Personal Guide to Managing Spasticity
- Multiple Sclerosis Signs and Symptoms
- Frequently Asked Questions About Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- My Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis (With Tips On How to Get a Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis)
Meet Leisa Watkins
Leisa is a chronic illness writer and advocate living with MS, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, and CFS/ME, and a mom navigating her kids' chronic illness journeys alongside her own.
She writes from lived experience and years of research, sharing practical strategies and compassionate guidance for women building a full life alongside chronic illness.
Not a medical professional. Please consult your healthcare provider for medical advice.
About Cultivate an Exceptional Life
Cultivate an Exceptional Life is a chronic illness community for women who are done waiting for their hard season to be over before they start really living.
Here you'll find honest stories, practical tools, and hard-won wisdom for building a life you love — alongside your illness, not in spite of waiting for it to get better.
Because an exceptional life doesn't just happen. It has to be cultivated.