Yasmin Neves believed she was in the best physical condition of her life when she was suddenly afflicted with peculiar, unexplained symptoms a decade ago. In her 20s and looking forward to tying the knot, Yasmin had shed 10st after overhauling her diet, so she was bewildered and shaken when she found herself in hospital awaiting a diagnosis.

“I woke up one morning and the vision in my left eye was blurry,” recalls Yasmin, an HR consultant from the Brecon Beacons. “I continued going to work, but after five days, my vision went from slightly blurry to the point where I couldn’t see the hand in front of my face,” remembers Yasmin, now aged 37.

When she informed her boss, he immediately sent her to the hospital, where she spent a week anxious and puzzled as she underwent scans, tests and high-dose intravenous steroids, with doctors suggesting she might have suffered a stroke. Then, a doctor visited the ward and asked if she knew anything about Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

After battling with her weight for much of her early adulthood, Yasmine had lost an estimated 10st, slimming down from size 26 to size 12. By the time she began having issues with her vision, she was exercising regularly and felt proud of the progress she had made.

So she was incredulous when the doctor suggested MS. “I was like, ‘No, what the hell is that? I’m fit, I’m healthy, I’m young, what are you talking about?’ I was just in a state of shock,” she says.

Yasmin was organising her wedding to her husband Matthew, developing a property business and working in a challenging HR position while also establishing her own consultancy simultaneously. She didn’t have time to be unwell.

But as Matthew started investigating the condition, he spotted several symptoms that seemed recognisable. MS is a chronic autoimmune disease that impacts the central nervous system, resulting in the deterioration of the protective myelin sheath surrounding nerve fibres, which disrupts communication between the brain and the body.

The condition affects around 150,000 people in the UK, with approximately 7,100 new diagnoses each year – an average of 135 people per week and this figure is rising. But Yasmin, in complete denial, discharged herself from hospital early to attend a Beyoncé concert and a friend’s wedding.

While her vision improved, new problems emerged. Whenever she became even slightly overheated, her eyesight would fade again.

She found herself stumbling, colliding with objects and accidentally cutting her fingers whilst preparing food. She also developed bladder problems, meaning she often needed the toilet urgently and frequently and fatigue was an issue.

“I was having a great night’s sleep, getting up the next day and just feeling that brain fog and not being able to make decisions or move through the day,” she says. She also suffered with something called the ‘MS hug’ where “every time you breathe in, it’s like someone tightens a belt around the top of your chest”.

Under the diagnostic criteria in place at that time, medics needed to witness several relapses before confirming the diagnosis officially, leaving Yasmin facing two years of limbo. Throughout this period, her symptoms worsened and her psychological wellbeing declined sharply.

“I just thought my life was over and I ended up in a very dark place,” she says. The diagnosis finally came in 2018, when she heard the word “incurable” and was told to “go and live your life”.

The phrase proved deeply upsetting for Yasmin, who immediately feared the worst.

“I said, ‘is there anything that I can do? What about changing my diet?’ and they said, ‘not really’ and handed me a leaflet of treatment options.”

Yasmin began a medication regime that actually worsened her condition, triggering digestive problems and additional side effects. However, that very same week, the pair finalised the purchase of a smallholding in the Brecon Beacons and relocated from their Cwmbran home in Wales, determined to lower their stress levels.

Friends questioned the wisdom of moving to such an isolated location following such a significant diagnosis. “I was like, ‘bloody can. I’m going to’,” Yasmin says.

Yasmin subsequently left her full-time corporate position and concentrated on her HR consultancy, whilst investigating lifestyle modifications after discovering a programme promoted by charity Overcoming MS that encouraged meditation, exercise like yoga and walking and a healthy diet. Previously, she had depended heavily on ultra-processed meals.

“I thought I was cooking, but I wasn’t. I was taking stuff out of the freezer and putting it in the oven,” she recalls.

She therefore replaced ready meals with a whole food plant-based diet packed with fresh ingredients. A high-quality diet has been associated with a 50 per cent reduction in disability progression over 7.5 years, according to Overcoming MS, and recent research has indicated that regular exercise or physical activity can help lower the likelihood of MS relapse in some individuals.

Thousands living with the debilitating condition could be taking measures to help manage pain, reduce fatigue and even slow the progression of the disease, but insufficient information and awareness is preventing them, according to the charity. Three months after beginning the medication, Yasmin quietly ceased taking her prescription, without even informing Matthew, only to be reprimanded by her neurology nurse for doing so.

But remarkably, Yasmin began to feel better. Two years after adopting the new regime, she recalls waking one day and feeling “like a fog had been lifted”. Since then, numerous symptoms have diminished.

The heat-triggered vision problems have disappeared to the extent that she now enjoys regular saunas. The fatigue has vanished and her balance has improved so significantly that she now teaches yoga. Today Yasmin says she feels better than she did even before her diagnosis.

While she no longer takes medication, she acknowledges that isn’t an option for everybody. She is cautious not to suggest her methods will be effective for everyone.

MS impacts each individual differently and the condition remains impossible to predict, but she is hopeful her experience provides comfort to others confronting the same alarming diagnosis.

“I feel the fittest, the healthiest and the most content that I ever have,” she says. “I would say that you have to take one day at a time and be really gentle and kind to yourself. It is terrifying, and we don’t like the unknown, and it’s one of these conditions where you just don’t know where it’s going to go, because it affects everyone so differently.

“But I try and show by living my life, a diagnosis doesn’t mean you’re going to be completely reliant on other people and you can continue to live a full life. No one wants the diagnosis. It’s an awful thing to have. But there is hope and choice and you can do positive things to help yourself live well with it.”

Dr Kate Petheram, consultant neurologist at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Alongside medical interventions, providing patients with the knowledge about proven ways that lifestyle changes can help manage their specific symptoms and give them a greater sense of agency in their treatment, can be hugely empowering. With a growing body of evidence about the positive impact of lifestyle changes on those living with MS, it’s essential that these discussions are had with more people as part of their clinical care.”