News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
I’ve been writing The MS Wire for about three years now and it isn’t always easy to come up with fresh subjects. The other night my “idea well” was bone dry but then I came across something that primed the pump. In a private social media group for patient advocates, someone asked, “How do you keep a positive attitude with advocacy when dealing with chronically ill people? My main advocacy is…Continue Reading
Have you ever read something and thought, “This is me, this is my MS?” It happened to me the other day as I read a post by Rachel Horne on the BartsMS blog. Horne writes about how some of us adapt to our MS diagnosis better, or at least differently, than others. She says that “some people with MS manage to adapt and even thrive despite all the disease takes…Continue Reading
The other night in bed my calf muscles started cramping. Again. Usually, it’s just my left leg, but that night it was both. The pain wouldn’t ease with my usual stretching routine so I reached for my little bottle of cannabidiol (CBD) oil. I’ve been experimenting with CBD oil on and off for a few months. I rub it into my left calf muscle before bed and on many nights…Continue Reading
Legos, it seems, are more than just a kids’ toy. People with some neurological conditions, including MS, are using those little, colored building blocks to build better lives for themselves. It’s Lego therapy. An article in the latest issue of Brain & Life uses Kathleen Jordan as one example. Jordan, who has MS, bought a big bag of Legos for her granddaughter. But she began to play with them herself.…Continue Reading
BULLETIN Potential Tropical Cyclone Two Advisory Number 2 NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL022019 400 PM CDT Wed Jul 10 2019 …HURRICANE WATCH ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN COAST OF LOUISIANA… …HEAVY RAINS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE CENTRAL GULF COAST… With a serious storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast I’m re-publishing a post which I wrote a year ago. Hurricane season began…Continue Reading
I’ve been living with MS for nearly 39 years and I’ve never read the doctors notes my neurologist has written during my office visits. She did hand me a thick folder of notes several years ago with material dating back to my diagnosis in 1980. But, I filed it away and when my wife and I downsized a few years ago I shredded it. I wish I hadn’t because, after…Continue Reading
I’ve used an electric scooter for nearly 20 years. At first, I only used it when I knew I’d be walking a lot. Now, it’s every day. I used a cane for several years before the scooter. I resisted using both, however, and I’ll bet that many of you who are reading this are putting up your own stiff fight right now. I’ve tried to sell the benefits of mobility…Continue Reading
You may have felt what Bethanee Epifani Bryant has felt in a doctor’s office. I think many patients have, but most of us can’t paint the picture of an invisible patient that Bryant can paint. And she paints it using words. Bryant is a poet. “I sit on the examination table vulnerable, openly allowing him to dissect my body and fix what had been broken I tell him where it…Continue Reading
The other day, a young woman with MS shared her worry in a Facebook group that her disease would prevent her from playing with her grandchildren someday. Her concern got me thinking about how I’ve handled my MS around my grandchildren. My granddaughter is almost 5 and will start kindergarten in the fall. My grandson is 3. They’ve never known me as a person who walks normally, without two canes…Continue Reading
I rode a recumbent bike for 15 minutes today. That’s a record for me, and it felt great. The bike ride was part of an overall workout routine that I’ve set up for myself at the gym. The workout mirrors what I was doing about 15 years ago, when I was still working full-time. That routine was set up with the help of a personal trainer, and it includes upper-body…Continue Reading