What you might not be aware of
"Walking on a staircase can be a bit of an E=mc2 moment in my life, meaning I can’t remember what those things at the end of my legs are for. They look cute in my tall Dr Martens boots, but every so often, I do wonder about them. Do I lift, drop or kick them sideways or not, or are they for decorative reasons only?"
What we refuse to discuss
"Another such thing is talking about your sex life if you have MS. In fact, I should rephrase this to ‘not talking about it.’ People are conservative about this subject in Ireland, and it’s a given that not everyone wants to talk about their intimate love life."
Death: a fearful thing?
"Within Gandhi’s description of strength, however, was some fear also, and within that fear, there was indignity. That superbug wasn’t meant for me. I wasn’t an elderly person, I didn’t live in unclean housing and I hardly ever used antibiotics. I could’ve continued listing pessimism, unhappiness and disaster, only, I unconditionally refused to. Clostridium Difficile wasn’t indeed mine to get, or to give in to, so I fought my way back. I am not now, have never been and will never be one to give up without at least trying five different ways to solve a riddle of life. I wasn’t ready to go. I had lived enough for two lives, but I wanted a third."
MS in numbers
"Instead of going into the possibility of ending their life in a wheelchair, I refer to the opposite side of the scale. When they say “But 25% of people with MS will end up in a wheelchair!” I say “Perhaps, but that means that 75% of people with MS will not end up in one at all!”
Under-caffeinated writer. Please help.
"Ah ladies and lads, you know I can be a bit kooky at times; hell, I can even get a little annoyed as well when things don’t go my way. I therefore won’t do it on this page. At all."
Big pharma’s friendship
"I’ve never been one of those anti-pharmaceutical protestors who claim that all medication is just a load of sugar-coated candy. It's extremely unlikely I'll ever take sides with those who protest. My view is that sometimes you just have to get off the warpath and look after yourself, even if it means bombarding your body with chemicals in order to get healthy, or better at least."
History of MS: 1960 – now
1960s During the 1960s, scientific research into the cause of MS came to focus on two main lines of inquiry that are still being explored today. The first emerged from analysis of the immune system. White blood cells that react against myelin, specifically against a component called myelin basic protein, were discovered in both EAE and human MS. This led scientists to consider the possibility that MS involves a direct immune-system attack on myelin. The second idea came from studies that showed that people with MS have altered antibodies against viruses. This revived the older thinking that MS could be caused by a virus. But rather than a viral infection directly damaging the central nervous system, viruses involved in MS were now thought to alter the immune system and trigger…
