I never gave too much thought to how my MS medication affects other parts of my body! I take medication because I don't want my health to decline. I suppress my immune system so it doesn't attack itself. But when I suppress my immune system I leave myself open to other things. I protect one organ and leave the rest open to damage. This one is primarily for the ladies, but of course everyone is welcome to read on.
I suspect that you can’t properly complain about MS to friends, family or colleagues; I’ve come to the conclusion that they just don’t don’t get it. Not even understanding spouses, partners, BFFs or parents, can really understand what you are feeling or experiencing, living with MS. I try to share that with MS-friends only, and keep it to a minimum with everyone else. MS is such a complex disease and it can take you so far from what a normal body experiences. I value my real MS-friends so much and the support that we can give each other. Online MS’er’s are a great source of support and information too, and you can meet people that are going through so many similar things to yourself.
As a follow on to my last blog about eating healthier, I decided I would make more of an effort to increase my fitness and mobility, which has taken a back seat for a long time!
I often hear people say that all MSers are different. I know where they are coming from. This chronic illness has so many, seemingly random symptoms. The brain is supposed to be conducting the orchestra but due to inexplicable glitches, certain instruments go out of tune from time to time- or stop playing altogether. It’s tempting to turn down the volume or stop the music completely. It’s true that all MSers are affected differently. Yet- we are all the same. We ALL have MS. Just like organisations like the IFA or the GAA- we have something massive in common, even though we are different.
Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet, in 1786, penned the now famous lines “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley,” translated from ancient Scottish it loosely means that the best laid plans often go awry. And so it happens in life; we may not have an exact plan laid out for our lives and we may not know exactly where we want to go or how to get there but one thing for sure is that our plans do not include Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
One of my favourite quotes by Lewis Carroll is “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
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