Join the Multiple Sclerosis “Movement”

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Tai Chi, Google ImagesToday I had a great time at a family member’s dance recital. I have to admit that I love going each year because I enjoy the pretty costumes, the toddler ballerinas, and the talented older dancers. I also love the fluid dance movements and the stories that are expressed through the dancers.

Staying on this subject, I think it’s vital for people with multiple sclerosis to participate in some kind of physical activity, whether it be walking (aided or unaided) down the street to take in the scenery, doing some kind of organized or individual exercise program, or working with a physical and/or occupational therapist to maintain mobility and flexibility. Water exercise is another great way for folks with MS to work on physical abilities, because what seems daunting on land (walking, moving limbs, and so on), becomes easier in the water because of buoyancy. Neurologists and physical therapists highly recommend water exercise for those with impaired mobility.

A great source for modified exercise programs—- yoga, aquatics, tai chi, and so on—- is your local YMCA. Another option is to contact your local hospital, because they often sponsor programs for people with MS and other conditions. Plus they have a network of social workers with access to community services.

I am working on my MS mobility by taking walks with my husband, buddies, and parents; bicycling around our neighborhood; and on not-so-good days, just being glad to get some of the housework done. It’s all movement.

P.S. I caught a baby striped bass this weekend in the river, so that brings the season’s fish count up to seven (I’m still a beginner, so I like to keep track!)

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Another Strange Attack

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Back to 1999. So I went for a year without any problems after the numb lower back incident. I was working as a physical rehab aide while going to school for diagnostic ultrasound. The rehab field is fun and it’s meaningful because you can see people progress and get better. On the flip side, it can be very physically demanding and the shortage of healthcare workers, particularly nurses, is not helping the situation. So I was running around by day, physically wearing myself down, then going to classes at night, 4 times a week. The ultrasound program was one that was quick and intense, to get technologists out and working after a year of training and then a short clinical experience.

I have noticed a pattern for myself in that I tend to relapse sometime between April and July. Might be the onset of the warm weather. So as the heat was rising in June of that year, my left leg began to feel weak and tingly, from foot to knee. The leg also felt cold, like I had bad circulation. I plugged on, but I went to my dad’s primary doctor, who sent me for an EMG, a test that supposedly checks for nerve conduction. The exam was a bit uncomfortable, because it involved levels of electrical shocks and multiple needles stuck into my leg. When the results came back, they were negative. The primary doctor never scheduled me for anything else, and I again chalked it up to some weird side-effect from having had Lyme disease. The leg weakness/numbness went away in a month’s time.

At that point I wasn’t my biggest health advocate because I didn’t know any better.

Posted in My Own MS Journey

Some Fishing News

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White Perch, StockXchng.comOkay, I want to digress from time to time, just to keep this MS site colorful. My husband and I have recently taken to fishing in our nearby river— it’s about 3 houses down from us at the end of our street (we have a fantastic view from our covered porch.) Bill and I go around the guard fence and walk down to our tiny little shore, sometimes bringing our chairs and some beer.

This is the first season I have persistently fished with him, because I got lucky and snagged a white perch one night purely by chance. Now I’m HOOKED. Ha… So we go down to our favorite spot a few nights a week and I have caught 4 fish in the last month. It takes my mind off of being sleepy from stress and each time I catch another fish, I am that more determined to catch more. I have also caught 2 baby large mouth bass in a local pond.

Fishing is great for concentration, patience, balance, upper arm strength, and the soul. It’s also FUN.

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The First MS Attack

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Today I vividly remember my first MS attack, although at the time I didn’t think much about it. It seemed pretty subtle. It was a little over ten years ago, and I was living outside of the Philadelphia area, in my mid-twenties, and trying to figure out what Google Imagessort of career I wanted. Being an English major can be a blessing and a curse because it keeps your options open, but it doesn’t give you very specific career skills, unless you become a journalist or some other type of writer. So at the moment I was investigating health/human service ideas, because I enjoy helping people.

I was living in a studio apartment and I remember waking up one morning and feeling like I had slept funny on my lower back. One small area on my left side was tingling with pins and needles like it was still asleep. About the size of my palm. Except this area didn’t “wake up” and it continued to feel like this for about a week.

Now I didn’t have good health insurance at the time, and about a year earlier I had contracted Lyme disease because I was working outdoors in a region that has a population of deer ticks only second to that of Lyme, Connecticut (where Lyme disease is thought to have begun.) I had been quickly treated with a strong course of antibiotics, and I believed I had made a full recovery. But in the back of my mind, when this pins and needles event happened in my lower back, I began to tell myself that it could have been a minor side-effect from having had Lyme disease, because this infection can cause tingling and numbness as well. So I chalked the whole tingling episode up as a small inconvenience. Plus the whole thing went away within a week like it never even happened. No harm.

At this point I knew absolutely nothing about multiple sclerosis.

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Welcome

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As a person living with multiple sclerosis for about 10 years, I still find it frustrating and sometimes isolating trying to explain it to my loved ones. The symptoms can be so bizarre and people often can’t tell My Path, StockXchng.comwhen they’re happening to me. I’m sure you’ve heard from others that “you still look okay.” That’s the irony! Living with this hidden disability can make you feel like you’re buzzing, tingling, going weak, and having vision problems, and yet the outside world cannot see this. Not everyone with MS is using a cane or a wheelchair. And yet there are times when maybe a cane would help with the tiredness, but how do you explain this to someone? Multiple sclerosis is so unpredictable and living with it involves a constant renegotiation of your life path.

My name is Jen, I’m 37 years old, and I’m currently in the middle of a relapse. I’m a freelance writer who worked in the health and human service fields for over a decade, particularly as a registered ultrasound technologist. I have an English degree and I enjoy children’s fiction and adult nonfiction, biographies, and mysteries. I volunteer at my local library, and I plan to continue taking library science classes online, if only to make me a better library patron and to provide me with optimal sources for my writings. I am a member of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and have volunteered at their walking and bicycling fundraising events.

Welcome to my MS story. I also welcome you to tell your story.

Posted in My Own MS Journey
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