The MS blame game
Earlier this year, my right eye behaved erratically because of a significant amount of stress that led to ongoing optic neuritis. My eye doctor recommended several times that reducing stress levels as well as cutting back on laptop, smartphone and TV use would be beneficial.
World MS Day 2016
As each day passes with life with MS, it’s worth noting that quite often, there is still a large information gap to be filled on a medical, emotional, societal and political level. Like many other disease groups, the MS community wants to enhance “Life with…” once a year in a bid to give more insight in what people without MS may otherwise take for granted. In the past, I’ve written about World MS Day on my blog, as well as on the Irish MS Society’s blog and on Novartis’s MS blog. As a person living with the illness day in, day out, highlighting it has become a moral obligation.
Trading pens and ink for bullets
"My own freedom of speech means the need to write, to create, to share, to ask, to think, to discuss and then create again the way I intended, the format and content I choose. It's not only my basic human right, but it's yours also and should be upheld regardless of country borders or religious background."
What a difference a needle makes
Needle anxiety. We all went through childhood being afraid of injections. But why would someone have needle anxiety when what you’re about to self-inject every day, in fact, slows down the progression of your chronic illness? Although my emotions regarding needles do not amount to belonephobia, I have gone through moments where I simply could not press a needle in my skin. Using an Autoinject only made it worse. Pain doesn’t scare me (anymore). In fact, I’m going through a pretty rough time right now because of trigeminal pain. Knowing, however, what the prerequisite was for having to inject myself on a daily basis, has, on occasion kept me from self-medicating.
To update 2025 – Mental Health Ireland
Add Ireland St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS) Fasttrack General Practitioners, GPs, Family Doctors, Pharmacists, Dentists, Hospitals. It also provides contact phone numbers. Type your address in the box below. The Atlas will search automatically – choose an address from the search results. A map of your street will appear. Health Atlas HSE mental health support HSE mental health professionals National office for suicide-prevention National counselling service branches Services you access directly G.P. services What to expect when visiting a G.P. Counselling in Primary Care Evening and weekend services Emergency services What to expect at the Emergency Department Primary care services Counselling in Primary Care Community and non-statutory services Counselling Phone and online supports Interview with Samaritans Supports for young people Jigsaw virtual tour Supports for parents and guardians…
Fake it ’til you make it!
"Your conscious mind gives your unconscious the task to change your outlook on life, and it is slowly being bent into thinking you’re a champion within your own league. The beauty is this: the brain in fact doesn’t really know the difference between your mind’s visualisation and reality. And therein lies the power, not the slightly negative connotation of wanting-to-be/do-something, but the positivity of having or being it already. If need be, fake it ’til you make it!"
MS Ireland: Hope & Empowerment
It’s not the first time I sit back at night and go over past moments that left me inspired and willed me forward to do more, much more. As societies go, there’s a lot of goodwill in MS Ireland, our national MS society. There are also hard facts that tell you that this is a group of outstanding people working towards one goal only: to significantly improve the lives of those living with multiple sclerosis, including their families.
