MSAA recently asked Founder and Executive Director for Open Doors Organization, Eric Lipp, for advice on how to research and plan a wheelchair accessible trip. Read below for his 10 tips for planning an accessible vacation.
This is a great question and if you’re thinking about traveling this spring or summer, now is the time to start planning. You can never do enough due diligence! Also, I’ve never heard from a traveler, “I was over prepared!” Don’t be afraid to start at Continue reading
In his story “Does Multiple Sclerosis Cause Headaches?” posted on MutiplesSclerosis.net, author Matt Allen explores the correlation between MS and migraines. As someone with MS and also a migraine sufferer, he took notice as more and more attention was paid in the media to the possible correlation.
In his story, he cites a 2017 study that found that headaches are experienced by 78 percent of people newly diagnosed with MS.
This study alone is not enough to make a Continue reading
Here is my car. My loyal steed. Thirteen years old with 145,000 hard-earned miles on the odometer. Showing more than its share of bumps and scrapes. Door dings. And a couple of rust spots. Inside the carpet is worn in places while the driver’s seat has a stain of a long, forgotten fast-food burger.
“Wait a minute, what does this have to do with MS?” you ask.
Well hear me out. Continue reading
I have a problem with expecting too much from myself which in turn hurts me more than helps. This year I have made it my purpose to evaluate my life and simplify everything I’m doing as much as I can. Is that even possible? There are things I want to do, things I need to do, and things I need to let go of. Multiple sclerosis has definitely changed my perspective about everything in life.
Some of the top priorities for me are Continue reading
As humans, we tend to expect a lot of ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. You may currently be in the process of creating expectations for yourself or you may have already created them. Just remember that it’s important to manage your expectations in a way that’s going to be beneficial to you. We sometimes put these extremely high expectations on ourselves and then get discouraged or stressed when the expectations haven’t been met by the deadline we created. Continue reading
Experiencing life events and trauma can change a person. We all experience life milestones and challenges, yet they are so personal and timed differently for each of us that how we react or change is never the same. Losing a loved one or experiencing an illness is different when experienced as a child, a young adult or as an older adult. Our expectations and life skills are different at each point in our life, and what may be life changing for one may be life affirming for another.
As I reflect on how being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and living with symptoms has affected me, it’s difficult for me to Continue reading
If you are like me, I try. Everyday is new. We have a “new me” daily. Some days we are the broken car in the garage and some days we are a strong engine.
On days your engine won’t turn over, don’t beat yourself up. We all have bad days. Some have really bad days. Try to hold on to something. Chocolate is meaty, but it makes things better.
I have had days that Continue reading
By Alene Brennan
There a lot of emotions you experience when you’re diagnosed with an incurable, neurological degenerative disease.
I remember shortly after my diagnosis of MS, I read an article that talked about patients grieving the loss of the life they had and the life they imagined.
It struck such a cord, because it’s how I was feeling.
What do I have to stop doing now?
I knew Continue reading
Multiple sclerosis is one of the most unpredictable diseases there is, especially when it comes to young people. Symptoms vary widely, and the time it takes to progress can be long or very little at all.
In large part because it shows up so differently for so many in the community, it’s a difficult disease to understand. But, anyone living with it Continue reading
Now that we have rung in this New Year and flipped double digits to enter into this new decade, we need more. We should desire something to make us stand out from the crowd as it is too easy to vanish into obscurity if we do not evolve. This affliction called multiple sclerosis should not define our lives but be a mere side note to the long list of who we indeed are. Every year we should grab Continue reading