Types of MS
Doctors divide the symptoms into three groups: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary symptoms come from damage to the protective sheath around the nerves in your spine or brain. The damage is called demyelination. It causes scarring, which makes it harder for signals to travel between the brain and the body. This process can lead to bladder or bowel problems, loss of balance, numbness, paralysis, tingling, tremors, vision problems, or weakness. Medicine, rehabilitation, and other treatments can keep many of these problems under control.
My brother and The Camino
I usually don’t reblog posts, but this one is special as it regards the brother of a friend of mine. Martin will be walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela to raise funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland. Declan and myself are lifetime members of MS Ireland and you know how much I’ve written about them in the past. It’s an absolutely astonishing society who does the utmost for people and family members of those with MS. Through my advocating with and for them, I see the efforts they make to try to help everyone affected, but having budget cuts year after year, the society can’t do everything they would love to do. I would therefore absolutely love it if anyone would want to sponsor Martin Groeger. To…
10 bold myths about MS
Multiple sclerosis is an illness subject to many myths that turn out to be misconceptions believed by far too many. When you scratch the surface, you find stubborn tales that create unnecessary anxiety and sleepless nights for those living with the illness. So let’s just throw some of the many misconceptions out the door, shall we?
That twitching feeling
"Suffice to say that the type that I have, is stimulus-sensitive and is triggered by a variety of external events, including sound, touch, movement, and light. Just like MS’s unpredictability in general, myoclonus can vary in intensity as well as in frequency, and it cannot be controlled by the one experiencing it."
Making sense of MS
"Even with forced rest breaks and scheduling tasks around my MS, I still have a way of falling asleep in the most unusual poses and ways. If I were to introduce you to my mum, she could keep you up all night with my falling asleep antics. Of course, she’d still be talking to you, while I ungracefully slump over, drop books, am asleep within the first 3 to 5 minutes, sleep through loud fireworks, airplanes or my own house alarm blaring loudly. Like my nana always used to say, “When you do something, you have to do it properly.”
News: July 2014
A lot of news on the research front in July, which can only be good. It’s a joy, relief as well as hope that one of those research projects or trials might lead to longer periods of remission, and perhaps a return to lesser disability for those with primary and secondary forms of multiple sclerosis. So let’s keep fingers, toes, eye lashes and anything else crossed that can be crossed. A lot of people with severe MS deserve at least that. Remember, 2.3 million people with MS globally is staggering. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Research results Human Stem Cells Effectively Treat Multiple Sclerosis in Mice Models HCPLive – Embryonic stem cells are a potentially viable treatment option for multiple sclerosis (MS), according to research published online…
Longlisted for 2nd year running!
For the second year in a row, I’m blessed to find that my blog has been nominated and longlisted in the Blog Awards Ireland 2014 competition. Not only that, my blog is also longlisted in the Health & Wellbeing category! I sincerely, and once again, want to thank you for following, commenting and supporting my blog. Wherever you pick up your messages about new posts, via my shortcut ramblings on Twitter, drawn-out Facebook notifications or via email, I’m always happy to see your names appear in your own feedback. In the next few weeks, I will try to write regularly because my fingertips itch every single day and there’s just plenty more to be written about. ©Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2014. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of…