Playing with Multiple Sclerosis

[High Lama]

I was wondering if anyone here has MS or similar neurological/autoimmune problems and how they were able to continue playing tennis. I got weak legs and balance with some numbness in the leg.

 

[LOBALOT]

I was wondering if anyone here has MS or similar neurological/autoimmune problems and how they were able to continue playing tennis. I got weak legs and balance with some numbness in the leg.

It is great to see you out playing and I would keep at it and wish you the best.

 

[3loudboys]

Inspiring - wish you every success with it. Maybe doubles or a hitting partner that can keep the ball in the strike zone for you.

 

[sakarletjohn]

It is wonderful to see you out playing on Tyler the Creator, and I encourage you to continue doing so while wishing you the best of luck.

 

[Roforot]

There's a spectrum of severity w/ MS. It sounds like not much experience in tennis players so perhaps you can tell us about it?

 

[graycrait]

@High Lama , In my 200K city that is essentially a tennis desert I took it upon myself to hit with several folks who were enthusiastic yet had some physical handicaps. The huge plus for me was the good conversation (2 are PhDs, a 3rd has Parkinsons) and the fact I had to work harder to hit the ball back into their wheelhouses from all over the court. That doesn't answer your question but it is possible to find a hitting partner who understands the issues and and yet both can still "profit" from the hitting sessions. Of course there has to be lots of friendly smack talk. One guy who has some serious balance issues is particularly fun because if I interject the word "trump" in any context any number of near catastrophic things can happen on the other side of the court

 

[High Lama]

I should specify that I haven’t yet been diagnosed with MS. During my original post I had just gotten out the ER and the neurologist was fairly certain about MS since I had a few dormant lesions on the brain and active lesions on spine. On December 6 I saw another neurologist who thought my problems could be from bulging discs in the neck. She said the discs were compressing my spinal cord. I also found out at that time my blood tests and spinal tap(lumbar puncture) were normal. Last week I saw a neurosurgeon about the discs and he insisted I have surgery. So four days ago I had a cervicle dissectomy and fusion. I still gotta see a neuro ophthalmologist to see if I have optic neuritis. I have to wait 3 months until I can play tennis. I had been playing at a low 4.0 level before the surgery (previously a low 4.5).