My hen do 'hangover' turned out to be warning sign of an incurable disorder - I ... trends now
A bride has told how her horror 'hangover' ended up being a sign of MS.
Emily McColgan-Upfold, from Northern Ireland, found herself struggling to bend down the day after her hen-do in March 2023.
Understandably, she assumed that she was experiencing nothing more than a few aches from the night before.
But over the next few weeks and months, the 30-year-old’s strength, balance, vision, hearing and speech rapidly deteriorated.
Demanding answers over the cause of her bizarre symptoms, Mrs McColgan-Upfold, who works in education, sought medical help.
Emily McColgan-Upfold, from Northern Ireland , found herself struggling to bend down the day after her hen-do in March 2023
Then just three days before she was due to marry her partner of 11 years, Stephen, in May, concerned medics rushed her in for an emergency MRI.
This left the bride-to-be's wedding day in tatters as she nervously awaited the results.
Her wedding to Stephen went ahead as planned although Mrs McColgan-Upfold was 'anxious about falling' and 'couldn't really walk steadily'.
Her results, telling her that she had MS, came just days after tying the knot, while she was at the airport about to fly off on honeymoon to Greece.
Recalling the moment, Mrs McColgan-Upfold told MailOnline: 'I cried and completely broke down.
'I'm sure people were looking at me, but it was as if time and space had ceased to exist.
'They told me I had enhanced lesions on my brain and spinal cord and demyelination, which was most likely MS.
'I felt like my whole world had just collapsed.'
MS is a neurological condition that affects the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of potential symptoms, including the problems Mrs McColgan-Upfold suffered before her diagnosis.
With MS, the immune system goes haywire and mistakenly attacks the myelin sheath in the brain and spinal cord.
The NHS advice page states: 'This is the layer that surrounds your nerves, protecting them and helping electrical signals travel from the brain to the rest of the body.
'Attacks cause the myelin sheath to become inflamed in small patches, which can be seen on an MRI scan.
'These patches of inflammation can disrupt messages travelling along the nerves. It can slow them down, jumble them, send them the wrong way, or stop them getting through completely.'
Even before diagnosis, the worrying symptoms tarnished what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of Mrs McColgan-Upfold's life.
'Our wedding day was supposed to be such a special, happy day, but it had such an ominous grey cloud hanging over it,' she said.
'I thought I'd be more excited and giddy with nerves, but instead, I was very aware of not giving it away that I was in pain and exhausted.
'I had bad muscle weakness due to the numbness, so I was anxious about falling and I struggled to get into my dress, so my mum had to help me.
'I [also] couldn't really walk steadily or hold anything too heavy in my left hand, I had migraines and dizziness on and off and had constant back, hip, and leg pain; and I struggled with my hearing and vision.'
Mrs McColgan-Upfold said the ordeal has now left her looking back on her big day with 'mixed feelings'.
'I just wish I could have felt the way I thought I would, and I feel sad for the girl who was scared of what was to come,' she said.
Determined to enjoy her honeymoon in Greece, Mrs
