For many years now my neurologist has wanted me to wear a brace on my legs. I finally gave in to this and was fitted for the brace. Why did I need a brace? Why would anyone with MS need a brace? Well there are several reasons a person might benefit from a brace let’s start with weakness of the muscles. Muscle weakness can cause a problem called foot drop where the top portion of your foot drags on the…
If you’re newly diagnosed with MS chances are you have in the middle of coming off of having some sort of attack or relapse or whatever you want to call it where you got sick and your diagnosis was made to be MS. At this point is usually shock. And I’m sure you come home from seeing the doctor and go right onto the Internet looking up everything you can possibly look up for MS. But let’s start at the…
Billy Joel’s song Honesty is playing through my head right now, why? Because when it comes to your MS doctor it is the only way. Your MS doctor is probably a neurologist of some sort maybe they’re an MS specialist maybe they’re not, but whatever the doctor you need to have a special enough relationship with them that you can speak honestly. You need to be able to be really comfortable that you could say anything especially as the years go…
Could I honestly have MS for 18 years and never discuss a symptom that will eventually effect 80% of people with MS. Let’s start with basic urology lessons of what a healthy bladder does when functioning correctly. We make urine in our kidneys that travels down two tubes called ureters to the bladder, an elastic sac that holds urine. When all is good and working right as the urine is stored the sac expands. When it expands nerves in the…
It’s not listed in the MS symptom book but I have issues regulating my body temperature. It happens more often then I care to admit to and usually in the morning when I go out for either brunch or breakfast. I get coffee nothing unusual and eat and it causes my body to sweat. Sometimes is only a mild thing other times I’m in a full blown sweat where my hair line is wet my clothes are wet and you’d…
At the time I probably meant when I said all that positivity stuff but it didn’t take long for it to go right out the window. I do try mostly to follow a very positive lifestyle but sometimes the MS just gets to me I get overwhelmed and things go downhill fast. My day didn’t really start good even before I wrote that post. During my exercise I wasn’t in a good mood I wasn’t happy with my program I…
*** this exercise was from a book I read return to love by Marianne Williamson that I did previously when I read it I was recommended again to be done at my life coach so this part of the exercise is the letter that MS writes me in response to the letter I wrote yesterday. Dear Jamie, I’ve read your letter and I can hear the pain in your words. I don’t know why I chose you. I don’t even…
Dear Multiple Sclerosis, It’s been 18+ years you’ve been in my life. Your like that negative friend I can’t break away from. I’ve written this letter to you before but my life coach has asked me to revisit it because she feels that maybe I wasn’t fully honest in that letter. You see I try to put up a brave face. When the diagnosis came people were devastated around me and I felt I needed to be strong. It wasn’t…
I remember 18+ years ago being at that neurologist office when my entire left side of my body wasn’t functioning. I couldn’t really walk, I had muscle atrophy, numbness, weakness and gait difficulty. The doctor asked if anyone else in my family had MS. He knew before the MRI was even done. I sat crying in a chair as my mom leaned in front of me and said “everything was going to be ok”. We got in the car to…
The first time I contacted this group was about 10 years ago in hysterics. It was at the time my husband and I decided to get a divorce. Knowing I’d loose my house, I also thought I was going to loose my puppy. I remember sobbing and the really nice woman telling me, “you might find a place that will let you have him. We are here if you need us but I can tell that you love this dog,…
