About Erica
“Be happy! Not because everything is perfect but because you choose to focus on life’s perfect moments”. This one of my favorite motivational quotes and one that I make every effort to live by each and every day.
I am a licensed health care professional with 25 years of experience in the health and behavioral health field. I obtained my Bachelor degree in Psychology from Morgan State University and my Master’s degree in Social Work from The University of Maryland at Baltimore with a specialization in Health. Even before my own diagnosis with MS, I was passionate about improving the health of individuals with complex integrated healthcare needs, addressing social determinants of health and empowering individuals to live their best life. Who knew MS would be in my future and I would have to live by the lessons I was so diligently providing for others. Currently, I am pursing a certification as a Mental Health Integrative Medicine Provider.
I am a licensed health care professional with 25 years of experience in the health and behavioral health field. I obtained my Bachelor degree in Psychology from Morgan State University and my Master’s degree in Social Work from The University of Maryland at Baltimore with a specialization in Health. Even before my own diagnosis with MS, I was passionate about improving the health of individuals with complex integrated healthcare needs, addressing social determinants of health and empowering individuals to live their best life. Who knew MS would be in my future and I would have to live by the lessons I was so diligently providing for others. Currently, I am pursing a certification as a Mental Health Integrative Medicine Provider.
My Journey with MS
In the Beginning
My name is Erica Zachary and I am an MS Warrior but I am NOT my MS! I am a child of the most high God who has been ever present and shown himself true in my life! I am also a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a granddaughter, a loved one and a friend . MS is only part of my story! I am a transplant from New York City. I moved to Maryland at 17 to go to college and except for one homesick year, I have been in Maryland ever since.
Misdiagnosed by an Insensitive Doctor
I was diagnosed with MS in 2000, almost 20 years ago. Probably like you, it was no easy road to being diagnosed. I had symptoms for several years prior and was initially diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis. I had a very insensitive doctor who told me to quit my job, apply for disability because I would soon need a wheelchair and would not be able to work. I reported her to the board ☹ At the time of my diagnosis I was married with an 8-year-old. I had just graduated with my master’s degree in Social work. We had just gotten married and purchased a home a few years earlier. I called my husband after the appointment, told him the diagnosis, cried hysterically on the phone and when I got home. I called my mom and after that I proceeded to ignore it.
Eventually, I did see a neurologist as that rude, insensitive doctor suggested but he was not an MS specialist. He told me that since I was overweight, he was more concerned about me becoming diabetic than about MS. He told me to eat more fruits and vegetables, reduce processed foods and red meat, remove artificial sweeteners, food colorings from my diet, exercise and reduce stress. At his suggestion, that’s exactly what I did. Well except for the reduce stress part. I wasn’t even sure what that meant. Do you? Life is stressful and I have MS, a family to look out for and I’m employed. That alone is stressful. I also didn’t know what exercises to do at the time and everything I read about MS said exercise was contraindicated and to rest. I proceeded to only focus on not becoming a diabetic and changed my diet.
How I managed Without Medication
It wasn’t until 12 years later that I started to believe maybe I do have MS. I started doing more reading and identifying symptoms that were consistent with MS and reading about how to control them. I was not open to taking medications. The medication I had been prescribed at the time sat in my refrigerator for more than a year before I finally threw it out. My father is a vegan and did not believe in medications, so he and my husband encouraged me to be more consistent with my diet and I remembered what my first neurologist told me about exercise, and I joined a gym. I worked with a personal trainer that had some information about neurological diseases and exercises. I was doing great. I was walking 4 miles on the treadmill, doing close to an hour on the elliptical and doing weight machines, Zumba and yoga several times a week. The trainer also met with me twice a week to help me do exercises to increase flexibility and work on my core. At that point, I had only had 3 exacerbations, two of them, were after a car accident where someone else hit me.
When Things Fell Off
Prior to the 3rd exacerbation I took on a management job and was incredibly stressed, working long hours and often being the last one to leave. My trainer moved out of state, I stopped exercising, stopped eating well and I spent much of my free time working and taking care of my husband, 2 children and my grandmother who had become another major stressor for me. I started to have more sensory symptoms, the dreaded MS hug, vertigo, leg weakness and what I know realize was foot drop when I walked too long. One day when I was feeling poorly with little feeling in my feet, my daughter asked if I needed her to pick up her brother and me being the super woman I was and many of us proclaim to be I said “no, I’m fine”. It was at that point, I realized I wasn’t fine. MS is unpredictable right? It reared its ugly head at the worse possible moment, and I had another car accident. This time though, it was my fault. My foot got caught under the brake pedal, I panicked hitting the person in front of me not once but twice. I again cried hysterically, I was scared, angry and realized I was having another exacerbation. I saw a neurologist and just like many others I saw over the last few years for 1 or 2 visits, he told me there was nothing he could offer but medications. He refused to discuss lifestyle changes, diet or exercise.
How I Got Back On Track
I did more research and I found a diet and exercise program specific to people with MS that worked well for me. My involvement in online support and exercise groups gave me the strength both physically and mentally to achieve my new Why. After my car accident it was the 1st time that I had to start using an assistive device. My daughter was getting married and I was determined that when they called our names to walk down the aisle as her parents, I would not use a cane. That was the “Why” I needed to regularly commit to exercise, diet, stress reduction and CAM therapies. I also began seeing a teletherapist, much like the services I offer now. She helped me to remember the training I had developed years before as a therapist working with individuals with HIV. Negative thoughts lead to negative feelings, those negative feelings lead to negative behaviors and the cycle continues leading to more anxiety about the future and more depression and feelings of hopelessness. Working with her helped me to remember although I am living a life with MS, I am not my MS. There is so much more to me, my life and my experiences than MS. My daughter did get married. Not only was I actively involved in the planning of her wedding, I walk with my husband as the parents of the bride without using a cane, I danced and for the 1st time in months and I did not once think about MS during the entire wedding event.
Do you need help learning how to navigate your life with MS? Let me help you find and achieve your why!
As with many things, African Americans are usually diagnosed with MS later and therefore are typically diagnosed with a more progressive disease. For many years it was thought that African Americans did not get MS. For a long time that had me very confused about why I ended up with this disease.
Culturally, African American people are often told not to air their “dirty” laundry, God won’t give you more than you can bear and if you accept diagnoses like MS you are faithless.
As you know history in the US has also not always been good to us and over the last several years, we have experienced even greater challenges with a political climate shift, increased racial tension and the Black Lives Matter movement. I’m sure many, if not all of us have someone we have been concerned about coming home unscathed during what has been a difficult time. Remember what I said earlier about my doctor’s recommendations to reduce stress? What I have learned over the last 20 years, participating in MS support groups or other events, whether in person or online is, African American's are often unwilling to open up to a broader group without knowing they will be welcomed.
Although my services are open to any woman living with MS, I was led to offer teletherapy, consultation and support services to African American women to fill a void.
The services are designed to share what has worked for me in living MS naturally and truly live a life by my own design not based on my MS diagnosis. It's not easy, nor is my journey guaranteed to work for you but sharing my success in living my life by my own design has become my new Why.
I am a licensed clinical social worker and I have been working with individuals with chronic medical conditions, as well as depression, anxiety and other behavioral and social concerns for 25 years.
How I Can Help You
I have decided to use my professional knowledge, strength and experiences in managing Multiple Sclerosis to help women empower themselves through teletherapy and other support services to truly living a life by their own design not by their physician’s diagnosis.
