Studies show<\/a> that physicians don\u2019t regard Black women the same as their White counterparts when it comes to pain tolerances<\/a> and overall treatment. A misconception that mostly White women suffer from MS, she said, likely contributed to her misdiagnosis.<\/p>\n Concerned for her health, she asked her chiropractor to request a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) but he said she was fine.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t receptive of me,\u201d Ratcliff recalled when she raised concerns. \u201cHe kind of made me feel small.\u201d<\/p>\n She almost canceled her independently booked MRI appointment and was glad she didn\u2019t. The scan showed lesions in her brain, a common indication of MS. Her neurosurgeon also identified in her left ankle that she had clonus, a neurological condition that involuntarily contracts muscles, soon after her official diagnosis in March 2018.<\/p>\n Ratcliff\u2019s previous misdiagnosis led her to seek a community among other Black women living with MS, who might have had similar experiences. Her book, she said, was written with a Black audience in mind.<\/p>\n Reader Bianca Sair, 33, found \u201clittle gems\u201d throughout the book that helped her cope with the news of her ailment. Sair was misdiagnosed for about two years with carpal tunnel until February 2021. Disheartened with the news of her incurable diagnosis, Ratcliff\u2019s book helped her \u201ccome out of that dark space,\u201d especially since it was written for Black women.<\/p>\n \u201cI clicked with her,\u201d Sair said.<\/p>\n LaRoyia Smitherman, 36, who downloaded the audio version, was in search of connecting with other people with MS who looked like her, she said. Since 2014, she had been \u201cblown off\u201d by doctors about her come-and-go MS symptoms because she was \u201cyoung and strong.\u201d Resonating with Ratcliff’s book, which listed similar experiences, Smitherman said the book can help other Black women \u201cadvocate for themselves\u201d during the diagnosis process (she was just diagnosed in December).<\/p>\n As she struggled to walk the 3-mile route of the Walk MS at Eldorado Park three years ago, wearing her brace, others among her weren\u2019t as able-bodied, so she pushed herself to finish for their sake. She cried as I crossed the finish line. \u201cTears of joy though,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/12172733\/jesus-year-3.jpg\")
Taking control over something<\/h5>\n