Planning for a Doctor’s Visit When You Have MS

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Samantha Schech

Being prepared and asking questions may assist in the overall care you receive at your doctor’s appointment. Taking control of your medical care by finding your voice and advocating for your health will help you to feel more involved in your health care decisions.

Well before your appointment, get in the practice of writing down questions you wish to address with your doctor. A journal or binder can be used to keep track of these appointments. Sometimes it is helpful to have one binder for all medical professionals so that you can review notes from all appointments. Dividers or clips can help organize one doctor or specialist from the next. If questions come up for your primary care while you are visiting with the neurologist, you can add them to the section for the primary care.

Before the appointment, prioritize the questions that are more important at that time. Often appointment time is limited, so by prioritizing the questions, you will assure that what is most important to you at that time is what gets addressed.

It can be a challenge to manage the patient-doctor relationship, especially if your doctor is not used to you asking questions. You certainly do not want to come across as aggressive by demanding the doctor answer questions. Before the appointment, make the doctor aware that you would like to discuss some concerns. By being upfront with the doctor, he or she can make sure there is enough time. Some doctors may prefer to follow-up and discuss questions through a phone call or e-mail.

Asking questions is important but so is making sure you hear and understand the answers you get. Taking notes during an appointment can help to clarify things after you have left the office. Having a care partner or family member at the appointment may also help in remembering some of the details of what you heard. If writing is a challenge, perhaps try using a voice recorder (with the doctor’s permission) to help re-play what was said during the appointment.

If you are having trouble understanding or are confused, ask your doctor to explain again. Ending your appointments with a summary can help to ensure that the doctor hears that you have understood the directions or information provided to you.

If there is something you are not sure about, ask for more information. Many doctors’ offices provide brochures, or educational materials that can describe a treatment or symptom. If the office does not provide these things, ask where you may find them. Perhaps you can reach out to one of the MS organizations to learn more about a particular treatment or symptom, or ask for information to be mailed to you.

By taking a more active role in your health care planning and decisions, you may feel more positive about the control you have over the disease.

How do you plan for your trip to the doctor or specialist?

Adjusting to Change

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Angel Blair

Change is something that continually occurs throughout life for all people and to different degrees. Change may have very mild, subtle effects, or very significant effects depending on what’s being altered. Sometimes change can be a good thing, and sometimes not. One of the most difficult concepts to accept about change is that at times you have no control over it. In our individualized society we try to live by the mantra that we control our lives and what happens to us day-by-day, but this is not always the case. Sometimes the unexpected arises and we play no part in its occurrence. An unexpected illness, a loss, or other unforeseen situations are some of the incidences that can transpire due to no control of our own. When the unexpected occurs, what can you do to help adjust and cope with this new-found circumstance, that wasn’t necessarily welcome or planned for?

Talk to others about the changes that have occurred. Communicating to trusted loved ones, friends or your healthcare team can help you explore ways to adjust by receiving outside perspectives.
Reflect on what the change has affected. By recognizing what’s different you can make your own adjustments that will work for you in your day to day.
Explore your support resources. If change has had emotional, physical, or social impacts for you, it’s important to know who you can reach out to for help.
Bring focus to things that you enjoy and that you can control in your day-to-day. Make decisions that help to ensure that changes are modified to fit your needs.

Change can take some getting used to, especially if it’s something unpredictable. Though some things are uncontrollable and unforeseen at times, individuals do hold influence over the way they can approach change and react to it. It’s how you make the change work for you that’s significant.

October 2014 Artist of the Month: Celebrating the Work of Artists Affected by Multiple Sclerosis

Posted on October 3, 2014 by John MSAA

MSAA is very proud to present our 2014 Art Showcase – celebrating the work of artists affected by MS.

We have received many wonderful submissions from across the country and are delighted to share their work and their stories with you. Please visit our online gallery to view all of the new submissions.

October Artist of the Month:
Janice Paige – Bel Air, MD

About the Artist:

“I am the mother of two grown sons and a wife of thirty-five years. I was a Special Educator for twenty-eight years…I obviously enjoy sketching and painting. I find it exciting and relaxing.

I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in the winter of 1999 after a bout with the flu. The doctor that examined me indicated that my right side was weak and that something was going on with my brain. I was so afraid that I just went numb! I was referred to a neurologist who scheduled me for several MRI tests. I was also scheduled for a couple of spinal taps. However, I was not diagnosed for eight months.”

It’s also that time of year – MSAA will soon be accepting submissions for our 2015 Art Showcase! Be on the lookout later this month on mymsaa.org for more information on how to submit your work or sign up to receive MSAA email updates to be the first to know when the Art Showcase is open for submissions!

Measuring Success

Posted on October 1, 2014 by MSAA

Sometimes life can be tough, and we may have to hear feedback that we don’t want to receive or work through challenging situations we don’t want to encounter. Like when the school says that your child is just not able to do what other kids can, or when your boss says that you are not keeping up to the standards the workplace requires, and if something doesn’t change soon, they’re going to have to let you go.

It is never easy or pleasant to deal with times where your “actions” or a loved one’s “actions“ are not “measuring up” to the expectations of what is required in a situation. This may occur when a real issue arises, i.e. if you are a nurse you need to have the ability to properly measure medications, and not doing this in a proper way can lead to major harm, or if your child needs a specific educational plan of action and you don’t get them help, it could be a big disservice.

Alternately, these types of situations can occur when the other person has a different “measuring stick” than you do, like if your old boss understood that you needed to take an afternoon break to be recharged and on your game for the rest of the day, but a new boss is inflexible and slams your work performance for taking a break. This type of situation can lead to major frustration and anger on both sides of the coin. The new boss has a different measurement they are using for success.

So, when it is not just a situation you have to own up to or seek support to overcome, how do you get the other party who is using a different measuring stick to see reason? First, check your own thought process by bouncing the situation off of a trusted friend, family member, or co-worker. Do they agree that you are being reasonable, or do they bring up good counterpoints for you to consider? Second, check for any formal supports or avenues for recourse. This might include documenting this situation and your concerns, or seeking out formal supports. In this workplace scenario, it might include talking with HR and asking for a formal workplace accommodation. It may also include you documenting your work actions more carefully or capturing feedback from clients or co-workers about your work to allay concerns presented by the new boss.

Not every difficult situation can be resolved, especially if neither person can compromise or shift how they are measuring success. You can do your part by being proactive in trying to see how the other person is viewing the situation, and trying to present your own views and insights in a clear and rational manner. Sometimes even simply acknowledging that you are looking at the situation from two different vantage points can allow enough of a bridge to achieve some type of workable solution.

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