‘At times I did feel that I was losing my mind’

Trish Deykin, above, loved her job as a crime scene investigator, but began to experience unexplained symptoms that increasingly interfered with her work.

She was 28 when she first developed pins and needles which made touching water agony – a serious hindrance for the keen swimmer.

“At first, doctors told me it was all in my head. I knew it was physical, but at times I did feel that I was losing my mind,” she said.

Soon the strange sensation was accompanied by agonising pain in her eyes.

“It felt like someone was constantly stabbing me in the eye,” said Ms Deykin, from near Yelverton in West Devon.

“I had a lazy eye and I initially though it was part of that. I wasn’t too worried.”

However, friends encouraged her to see specialists, and within a year, she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

By then, her symptoms were escalating, and included problems with memory and concentration, a leg that would involuntarily collapse without warning, poor dexterity and a burning sensation in her legs.

Ms Deykin had no choice but to take early retirement eight years after her diagnosis at 36 and she moved back to Devon from Sussex to be near her family.

Taking life at a slower pace has made a big difference.

“I feel my symptoms have levelled out now and I hope it stays that way,” she said.