Zoenique Williams, one of Bermuda’s top cyclists, has spoken for the first time about her battle with multiple sclerosis.

Williams was diagnosed with the disease in February after undergoing months of testing, having suffered from numbness in her hands and arms while riding last season.

The 31-year-old returned to action in the Butterfield Bermuda Grand Prix at the weekend — her first race since representing the island at last summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto.

She admits it has been difficult to deal with her diagnosis but is determined not to let it beat her and has vowed to continue competing.

“I have MS, it’s upsetting and I get down about it,” Williams said. “Late last year I went to the doctor and got a whole bunch of MRI scans.

“They said it was MS but then I went to a neurologist as he wanted to rule everything else out. He didn’t want to start treatment for MS if I had something else.

“So that’s why I haven’t been out [competing] this season and that’s what I’ve been dealing with. I’m still dealing with how to cope with it.

“There’s no cure for it and I just have to play it by ear and see what happens.”

Williams said she felt it was important to return to action as soon as possible and scotch the whispers about her lengthy absence.

She competed in Friday night’s St George’s time-trial/hill climb and the Southside road race on Saturday, but was left frustrated after suffering from relapses caused by her condition during both races.

“I’m still learning what I can do,” she said. “I wanted to come out and race as people were starting to wonder why I hadn’t been racing all season.

“I did the two back-to-back races but I didn’t want to do the criterium because your heart rate is constantly up and that brings on the relapses when I get numbness.

“After the road race I had pins and needles in my arm, which was frustrating. I didn’t want to push it and decided to give myself a break.

“I just hoped when I started taking the medication I wouldn’t have the relapses because it only happens when my heart rate spikes.”

Williams, a policewoman, only took up cycling for fun but quickly emerged as one of the most dominant riders on the island.

She wasted no time in making her mark in her first international competition at the 2013 Elite Caribbean Cycling Championships in Curaçao, where she won a silver medal.

Williams repeated that feat by finishing second at the following year’s championships in Puerto Rico, where she secured a spot for Bermuda at the Pan Am Games.

At last summer’s NatWest Island Games in Jersey, Williams was part of the Bermuda women’s team that won bronze in the criterium and silver in the road race.

About 2.5 million people in world have MS. It is normally diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 40.

Symptoms include fatigue, vision problems and difficulties with walking, but MS is different for everyone.

In MS, the protective layer surrounding nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord — known as myelin — becomes damaged. The immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin, causing scarring or sclerosis.

The damaged myelin disrupts the nerve signals — rather like the short circuit caused by a frayed electrical cable.

If the process of inflammation and scarring is not treated, then eventually the condition can cause permanent neurodegeneration.