Clearing up some multiple sclerosis crazy
Multiple sclerosis is nothing if not a frustrating learning curve. Wikipedia’s definition of a learning curve (and who knows where THAT comes from), states “the increase of information is sharpest after the initial attempts, and then gradually evens out, meaning that less and less new information is retained after each repetition.”
I’m not even sure what that means. The point is, since my diagnosis I have had to learn many things over and over again. I would learn them, forget them, re-learn them, discover that what I learned is no longer valid, unlearn it, and learn it again in a new way. Phew!
Add to that, a lot of what you learn does not make much sense and leaves you scratching your head trying to figure out how or if it is even helpful.. MS is like a huge jigsaw puzzle with MS’er’s trying to fit all the puzzling puzzle pieces into place.
If you are newly diagnosed, I want to spare you as much frustration as possible. Since multiple sclerosis is different for everyone, that means whatever I share with you may or may not apply, and may or may not be worth learning.
Still, I am willing to share, so, before I forget any of these puzzling bits of information, let me list some of them for you.
-If you have MS, you should drink a lot of water to help maintain your health- water is great for you.
-People with MS often have bladder issues that can cause frequent trips to the bathroom or accidents.
-Drinking less water can help alleviate some of the above.
-Or, you can take medication to also help alleviate your bladder symptoms.
-The medication will cause you the worst dry mouth you have ever had.
-The only relief for the dry mouth is drinking more water which will cancel out the effects of the medication.
–MS is an invisible illness- you often won’t look like you have MS.
-If you don’t look like you have MS, people will wonder why you are tired all the time.
-When you tell them it is because you have MS, they won’t believe you and will think you are just lazy.
-When you try to explain that is not the case, they will say you are in making excuses or are in denial.
–MS CAN make you look like you are drunk.
-When you tell people you are not drunk, they will say you are in even more denial.
-Treating MS costs a lot of money.
-In order to get money, you need to work.
-Working makes you so tired that you may screw up at work.
-This causes your boss to think that maybe you shouldn’t work as you are too tired.
-You can get energy from eating healthy foods and exercising.
-You need energy to prepare healthy foods and to exercise.
And finally,
–Multiple Sclerosis is so complicated, there is a lot of information you need to remember.
–Multiple Sclerosis can often cause difficulty with memory.
I hope you find this information helpful, friends. And I hope you remember it as I have already forgotten.
Someone please remind me, wasn’t I working on a puzzle?
Happy Day after the 4th of July friends! Early summer has kicked my butt a bit. If some of this sounds familiar it may be because this blog was previously posted on MSRelief.com
I promise, really promise to post an original blog next week!
Image courtesy of [khunuzero] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of [Boaz Yiflach] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of [renjith krishnan] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of [nutlakit] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Yvonne, I wish I could turn the heat down for you! This is one of my favorite blogs though and I was glad to read it again. I hope you catch a break soon and can enjoy a little energy to refresh your spirit.
Thank you friend-is it terrible to be counting to Labor Day?
Hola! I’ve been reading your web site for a long time now and fianlly got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from New Caney Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the good job!
Thank you Jeremy!