A guest post from Wahls Health Practitioner, Alene Brennan from alenebrennan.com
I remember the moment I heard those words: “You have MS.”
Everything blurred. My heart dropped. My stomach twisted. And while the doctor kept talking about treatment plans and next steps, all I could think was, “Wait… what just happened to my life?”
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with MS, you know that gut-wrenching feeling. It’s not just the physical symptoms, it’s the fear of losing yourself in the diagnosis.
Maybe you’ve always been the one who got things done, the dependable one who never canceled and never slowed down, or the one who took care of everyone else. Now YOU have an incurable, chronic illness?
It makes you second-guess everything about your future:
- How disabled will I become?
- Will I still be able to care for my family… or will they have to care for me?
- What happens to my career?
- What about everything I still wanted to do in life?
- Meanwhile, you’re trying to hold it together for everyone else because you want them to believe “you’ve got this.”
But the truth is, you’re crying in the bathroom… in the car… in the shower.
You’re trying to be brave, but inside, you’re falling apart.
You just want someone to tell you that it’s going to be okay. That you won’t become “the woman with MS.”
This is what I’ve come to call the second diagnosis.
The first one comes from your doctor: MS.
The second comes from fear: “I’m not me anymore.”
This one doesn’t come with a treatment plan. It just slowly chips away at your identity, your confidence, and any sense of control you once had.
And here’s what I believe: before you can even begin to manage MS, you have to survive that second diagnosis.
I’ve lived this.
I’m Alene, a Health Practitioner certified in the Wahls Protocol, and a fellow MS warrior. When I got my diagnosis, I scrambled. I cried. I tried to out-research the fear. But trying to build a plan in the middle of emotional chaos? It’s like trying to build a house during an earthquake. It just doesn’t work.
All that frantic doing only fed the feeling that I was already failing.
- The truth is you can’t think your way out of a feeling this big.
- You don’t need a 40-page PDF on gut health when your stomach is in knots from anxiety.
- You don’t need a “just listen to your body” pep talk when your body feels like a stranger.
What you need is space.
To fall apart.
To grieve.
To feel what this diagnosis actually means.
Because that second diagnosis, the one that makes you feel lost, is real. And it deserves attention, too.
This isn’t about fixing you. It’s about finding the part of you that fear tried to bury. That quiet voice inside says, “I’m still in here. I just need a way back.”
Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is take one breath.
Let go of the big questions “What do I do about MS for the rest of my life?” and ask just one: “How do I get through today?”
The first step is finding a single moment of quiet.
It’s learning how to settle your nervous system when fear takes over… how to process the shock… and how to take your first empowered, clear-headed steps forward.
If you’re feeling this way, here are 3 gentle steps you can take today:
1. Put your hand on your heart.
Find a quiet spot. Close your eyes. Breathe slowly. Say to yourself, “This is a lot. But I’m still here.” It may seem small, but this simple gesture helps calm your nervous system. Acknowledge the weight you’re carrying, you don’t have to justify it or explain it.
2. Do one “normal” thing you love.
Make your favorite tea. Watch that comfort show. Put on the song that reminds you who you are. This isn’t about distraction, it’s about reminding yourself that even in fear, you still have access to joy.
3. Say this aloud: “I don’t have to figure everything out today.”
Let that sentence be your permission slip. You’re allowed to pause. You’re allowed to just be. Healing begins when you stop trying to control everything and simply come back to the present.
These are some of the steps that helped me.
I didn’t have all the answers, but I refused to stay lost.
If you're ready to stop spiraling and start finding your way back to yourself, I invite you to explore Still You. It's a lifeline designed to help you reclaim your peace of mind and feel seen and deeply understood by someone who has been exactly where you are right now.
