Coping With Multiple Sclerosis
Approximately 300,000 individuals live with MS in the United States. There are twice as many women who have the disease as men. The first signs of MS usually appear between the ages of 20 and 40. Individuals with MS may be experiencing mild symptoms or they may be having severe attacks. MS is progressive, which means there is no cure and the disease will worsen over time.
Each person living with MS experiences the disease in different ways. They may have different symptoms or the same symptoms as another with MS but be mild instead of severe. Symptoms can affect sensory, motor or neurological. The symptoms experienced will depend on which nerve cells are being attacked by the disease. Symptoms can be loss of sensation in limbs, muscle weakness, vision problems, difficulty with bladder or bowel control, sexual dysfunction, pain, tingling, numbness, depression, fatigue or loss of movement, even paralysis.
The person with MS will need to seek medical care for diagnosis and ongoing treatment. They will likely see a neurologist who will monitor the course of their disease and help them to design a treatment plan. The treatment plan will likely be a combination of medication, physical and occupational therapy and new or experimental therapies. They may seek counseling to help them deal with family members, and to deal with the emotional upheaval of the disease.
Testing will be a part of their life from diagnosing, and on a continuing basis as the disease is monitored in order to properly treat with mediations and therapies. This testing may include MRI scans, spinal tap, and blood tests.
Life will be filled with attending doctor appointments, therapy appointments, counseling sessions, picking up prescriptions and learning how to take better care of the physical and emotional self. Learning how to be good to you takes time. We all have developed bad habits over time. The individual faced with a chronic disease has to re-evaluate lifestyles and make decisions regarding how they live that will have an impact on their quality of life. Everything from getting enough sleep to eating properly and also reducing the stress in your life must be examined and any necessary changes made. Sometimes that may mean moving to where it will be easier to move about (no stairs etc.), and sometimes that may mean getting out of a stressful relationship, or giving up cigarettes or alcohol. Receiving a diagnosis like MS, has a way of making us take a good look at how we live and then making improvements that can impact not only ourselves, but those we live with too in a positive manner.