LIFE WITH MEDS

I didn’t have severe MS symptoms.  Numb and tingling feet, some vision issues, clumsy, so life went on.  I had my first 5-year exacerbation which landed me in the hospital with IVs of steroids at 28.  Woke up one day while on vacation in AZ with little feeling in my legs or abdomen.  After recovery and lots of physical therapy to regain strength to walk/run again, I decided, well my neurologist decided, I had to go on meds.  A once-a-week intravenous shot in the muscle of my leg, hip, or arm.  No fun! Hard to do to yourself.  My husband tried to learn from the nurses, but it was more like a wind up and pitch motion, which freaked me out.  So, I did it or I would get my sweet neighbor to try.  The actual shot was only a small issue as the side effects at the time were horrible.  High fever and flu like symptoms for 2-3 days.  I would do the shot on Friday evening, just so I could feel horrible all weekend and go back to work on Monday.  Not much fun for me or my family. This continued for years until I could not do it any longer.  Something had to be better.  There had to be something besides the meds and feeling this way.

TIME FOR CHANGE

Much to my neurologist dislike, I decided to stop the shots. Not the wisest decision, but remember my “don’t and try to stop me” attitude?  I started Pilates to build strength in my core and then walking everyday which led to running, nothing crazy stressful, but  2-3 miles a few times a week and I started playing tennis for fun.  I changed what I ate to simple foods.  Proteins, veggies, fruit.  Took my vitamins.  I made rest for my body and for my mind a high priority, which 20 years ago was not a popular thing peeps! But here’s the thing, I felt great, and my body did too.  I was still having mild symptoms of the MS, but nothing like I had had before these changes to my lifestyle.

OH! TED TALK!

Skip forward about 10 years. A good friend of mine recommends I watch a Ted Talk by Terry Wahls, a doctor and professor of medicine who had been diagnosed with MS which progressed rapidly until she had to use a wheelchair.  She too wanted to find something better, to stop the disease from progressing, and used her medical knowledge to dive into loads and loads of research.  She discovered functional medicine and its use of scientific studies to find the root causes of chronic illnesses. She discovered food as medicine and started her own protocol, now called the Wahls Protocol ™ which helped her gain her health and life back. It has helped thousands of others and me too!  Today, I use many of her methods and recipes to enhance my own and I sincerely thank her for her work, knowledge and sharing. Incredible stuff, I encourage you to look her up for more information.

HEALTH, VITALITY, LOVE – MY STORY

As far as my journey, I continue my research and continue to make changes to better my health and my life overall. My MS MRI scans show a 75% reduction of the original lesions during my worst flare up.  I still have minor symptoms like tingling and numbness but have not had another exacerbation in 20 years. You see, MS is not my life story or my identity. The fact that I am a very healthy, vital, loving, and spirited individual is my story.

I can probably count on less than 10 fingers the number of people I have told this story to, but now I am. My goal is to share and hopefully help others with the knowledge that I have studied and practice daily to be my healthiest self in mind, body, and spirit.