How My Fitness Journey Transformed with Multiple Sclerosis: From Diagnosis to Regaining Control Through Diet and Exercise

Since we’ll cover diabetes later, let’s kick things off with the real turning point of my fitness journey: getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and breaking up with my girlfriend. While diving into fitness to cope with heartbreak did help me physically, I don’t necessarily recommend it as it wasn’t the best coping mechanism, but it certainly did help motivate me!

My Turning Point

When the MS symptoms first hit, I woke up one morning with my entire left side completely numb. I could still move everything, but I couldn’t feel a thing, which was pretty tough to explain to doctors. I delayed seeking help in classic David fashion, thinking I could handle it alone. This led to a rather unforgettable night at my favourite Irish pub, Hurley’s, with me sitting down to listen to one of my favourite folk bands, only to suddenly have a seizure.

I remember waking up to find my friends and paramedics around me, trying to keep me from stumbling out of the pub. I was confused, and probably looked drunk, with one of my friends, Sacha, who was holding me by the shoulders, asking if I was okay. All I could remember about how I felt was the overwhelming urge to leave the pub, but I had no clue why.

After being ‘manhandled’ back to reality by my friends and the paramedics, I spent almost a whole day in the hospital. An MRI and various tests later revealed three lesions on my brain and in combination with the symptoms I had been feeling up until that point, leading the head of neurology to diagnose me with secondary progressive MS. Quite the curveball in my fitness journey, right?

Back home, still numb on the left side, I began researching ways to manage my condition. The medication I was on was mind-altering—and not in the fun, trippy way, but more like turning me from a lively extrovert into a shut-in zombie. Talking to people felt exhausting, and those once-joyful activities didn’t seem to bring me any pleasure anymore. Also, adding more injections on top of my insulin routine was taxing, especially with the huge needles the new medicine required! That medication, despite being the most advanced at the time, only had a ‘possibility’ of working—hardly reassuring.

The Challenges of My Choice

Walking home with those words echoing in my mind, I couldn’t accept that the best treatment had only a ‘chance’ of MAYBE working. Coupled with the welts from the injections and my mental state, I knew I needed a better solution.

That’s when I stumbled upon Dr. Terry Wahls’ story. She went from being bedridden with MS to becoming fully functional again through dietary changes and a strict exercise regimen. Intrigued and inspired, I decided to dive into her protocol, with my added twist to it.

At this point, I was around 300 lbs and knew that cleaning up my diet alone wouldn’t be enough. The idea of retraining my body and regaining control over my health resonated with me. So, with Dr. Wahls’ principles and my determination, I embraced a rigorous exercise routine and a revamped diet.

The uncertainty of conventional medicine pushed me to take control of my health. Despite the challenges and the doubts from my doctor, I was driven by faith in my ability to rehabilitate myself. I started my training regimen with cardio and weight training daily, determined to overcome the obstacles and regain my health.

My Fitness Journey & Multiple Sclerosis

So, the Wahls’ protocol didn’t spell out a specific exercise routine, but that’s where neuroplasticity and teaching my brain new tricks, I think, came into play. Again, I’m no doctor, but hell, I figured something HAD to happen if I kept at it with consistency and repetition. And guess what? Something did!

My main goal was to regain as much functionality as possible. While I knew it wasn’t realistic to expect miracles in a few days or weeks, even if I didn’t get all my functions back, getting in shape as a side effect was my motivation—especially with my vanity kicking in.

For the first six months, I didn’t feel much change, but I could see my muscles starting to grow, even if only a little, and react to things on their own. And after those very strange few months, something incredible happened: that uncomfortable, tingly, numb sensation you get after you’ve fallen asleep on your foot feeling, spread across the entire left side of my body. It wasn’t everything, but it was something! And it pushed me to keep going even harder.

As for the workout specifics, I experimented with different weight routines and cardio, adjusting them to fit my symptoms. While I’m not sure if the exact exercises were the key to beating my MS or just part of the journey, I do know that incorporating a wide array of exercises from low-impact cardio, and resistance training with light weights; all the way to more intense sessions as I got fitter, used targeted physical therapy exercises, and indulged my inner adrenalin junkie, made a significant difference. What mattered most was staying consistent and adapting my routines based on how I felt each day. In the end, I weighed about 79 kg (175 lbs) and was in seriously good shape. Whether those specific workouts were the magic ticket to overcoming MS or simply a means to getting in shape, they certainly contributed to feeling stronger and more in control.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly of What I Ate

My initial diet routine to start me down the weight loss journey and ultimately overcoming my M.S. wasn’t the greatest. Before I started to learn about any of it, my goal was to cut calories as much as possible. I mentioned my vanity no? Well, I figured it was as good a time as any before to start getting in the shape I wanted. It’s a little embarrassing, but the diet consisted of one giant pita a day, and hummus. I would cut the pita in half in the morning, and have the other half at night for supper, and I drank so many 0-calorie liquids in between to keep me full, I’m surprised I wasn’t in the washroom every other minute.

I became so strict, that after following this obsessive diet for the course of a few months, not only did I lose a significant amount of weight, which included both muscle and fat as I still wasn’t perfectly versed on how to train. Overall, I would say that my health did improve greatly because even though it was much less healthy than what a standard healthy North American diet should be, it was still much healthier than what I had been eating before I commenced this new journey. When it comes to my diabetes, my main problems at this point were constant lows, which did lead to one medical intervention at the hands of my mother.

The diet and exercise program I had put together for myself ended up with me waking up with extremely low blood sugar, and apparently after having a less than comprehensible conversation with my mother over the phone where I sounded disjointed and unable to keep a sentence together and sounding extremely groggy and unintelligible, my mother called 911 which lead to them breaking down my front door and barging into my home. From my perspective, in the mental state that I was in, I thought someone was trying to break in, and so I fought both police and paramedics. All in all, however, they administered the sugar I needed, got me stabilized, and I finally regained conscious function to see the crowd that had gathered around me, and my broken-down door.

In summary, my diet was a bit of a rollercoaster. What started as a strict regimen of a single giant pita and hummus—paired with many 0-calorie drinks to keep me full—wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of nutrition. Sure, I lost weight and felt healthier than before, but it wasn’t without its downsides. My blood sugar lows became a problem, which led to a dramatic (and somewhat embarrassing) intervention by my mom and the emergency services. So, while I made some progress, it’s clear that diet is a delicate balancing act, and I had a lot to learn along the way.

Final thoughts for now:

I don’t suggest to anyone to stop taking their medication for multiple sclerosis and certainly NOT for type 1 diabetes; doing that one will have negative side effects on your life. What I do suggest is making the best of every day so you can live life to the fullest. While my charging ahead with fitness was initially for my overall health, and specifically for my autoimmune diseases, weight loss quickly became an equally important goal for me.

My journey has been a mix of physical and mental challenges. While my vanity drove me to stay motivated by seeing tangible progress in my fitness, it was the continued improvement in my left-side sensitivity and regaining functionality that truly fueled my perseverance. The physical changes were a powerful motivator, but the real breakthrough came from the gradual return of feeling and function, which reassured me that my efforts were making a difference. These improvements, combined with my vanity-driven desire to stay in shape, have been crucial in keeping me on track and inspired throughout my ongoing journey.