Advice from the Community: Awaiting an MS Diagnosis

Posted on May 29, 2020 by MultipleSclerosis.net

Waiting is the hardest part. For anyone who thinks they may have MS and is undergoing testing, awaiting results can be scary and downright hard to deal with.

To learn more about how to cope during this challenging time, we reached out on the MultipleSclerosis.net Facebook page and asked: “What advice would you give to someone who is going through the testing and diagnostic process but has yet to receive a confirmed diagnosis?”

Almost 90 members of the multiple sclerosis community shared their hope and experience. Here is what they said. Continue reading →

The Biggest MS Triggers

Posted on April 29, 2020 by MultipleSclerosis.net

In the early days after diagnosis, MS triggers are often a mystery. However, many find that the more time they have lived with MS, the more they know exactly what makes their symptoms worse.

To hear about some personal experiences with MS, we reached out on the MultipleSclerosis.net Facebook page. We asked the community to Continue reading →

How Multiple Sclerosis Affects Sleep and Dreams

Posted on March 30, 2020 by MultipleSclerosis.net

Dreams are a wildcard—whether you are living with MS or not. For some, dreams are an escape from the physical limitations of life with multiple sclerosis. Others experience something different when they go to bed. Good or bad, the dreams and nightmares tend to have one thing in common: They are extremely vivid.

To find out more about these experiences, we reached out Continue reading →

Multiple Sclerosis and Headaches

Posted on February 28, 2020 by MultipleSclerosis.net

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 →

Grieving the Old You, Embracing the New You

Posted on February 7, 2020 by MSAA

The “Gifts” in a Diagnosis

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 →

Young and Disabled with MS

Posted on January 31, 2020 by MultipleSclerosis.net

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.

A difficult condition to understand

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 →

Change Nothing and Nothing Changes

Posted on January 29, 2020 by MSAA

By Doug Ankerman

You take the meds, see your doctor and hope your annual MRI doesn’t show disease progression.

Seriously? That’s all you got?

Multiple sclerosis is laughing at you, man. Snickering at your lackluster effort. You cannot afford to sit back and wait. You must put up your dukes and fight back every single day.

MS doesn’t take Continue reading →

How Winter Can Affect MS

Posted on December 23, 2019 by MultipleSclerosis.net

For most of you, there is one certainty when it comes to winter and MS: the colder weather and gray days have an effect on you. But how the weather affects you is a toss-up.

We reached out on the MultipleSclerosis.net Facebook page to ask: “Do the darker, gray days of late fall and winter impact your emotional symptoms?”

In the community, 925 members voted. An overwhelming majority Continue reading →

Busy Fighting Progressive MS

Posted on November 27, 2019 by MultipleSclerosis.net

Over on MultipleSclerosis.net, we recently shared an article by Dianne Scott about fighting the secondary progressive stage of MS (SPMS). Her words generated a lot of discussion in our community about how MS looks from the outside compared to how it can feel from the inside! The many thoughtful responses added so much to the article and the conversation about life with MS that we decided to compile some of the comments and share them here. Continue reading →

Booting the Mental Devil

Posted on October 16, 2019 by MSAA

By Scott Cremeans

I went through many years of a deep dark depression that enticed me to see just how close I could get to the edge. This game of chicken between the darkness and the light stole my thirties from me and cannot return the years that were taken. This onslaught occurred as the angel and devil on either shoulder taunted me with a ruthless game of truth or dare. Although this atrocity would not stop, the bold brutal battle did not come to the desired conclusion of the dark side. The following is what helped me, and hopefully, others can Continue reading →

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