Gilenya in Ireland, part 2
It’s been a tumultuous week. I didn’t win the lottery or meet my knight in shining armour, but I had my MS/neurological check-up in one of Dublin’s biggest hospitals. It created ripples of emotions, questions and very few answers and as expected, Copaxone will remain my disease modifying drug (DMD) for the next few… hhmm… years perhaps? I expected – or hoped – to hear about new drugs on the MS-horizon as there are silent whispers about more new meds coming out later this year, but none of that happened. Off I went so re-adjusting my beliefs, my hopes and my dreams. I just wasn’t happy about having to stay on Copaxone; in my eyes it just wasn’t effective anymore. I should have known better. My neurologist has studied at…
Gilenya in Ireland… or not?
Looking through the window and wondering when and how it all began… Did it creep up on me or did it just hit me with a ton of bricks? Honestly? I think I know when it all started, but then again, there have been past flare-ups or exacerbations long before that, even if I didn’t know what they were at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing if you know what to look for. It does not matter anymore how it all began. Maybe it was fate, but do I really believe in fate or do I just say I do? People often refer to the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis like an unwanted houseguest turning up on their doorstep, an unwanted guest who will be there until their last breath,…
MS fatigue… the invisible monster
MS fatigue… The most common, yet most difficult to detect a symptom in multiple sclerosis. Aside from feeling exhausted, having to explain people over and over how different it is to normal tiredness, you often get a stigma assigned of “yeah, yeah, you’re just being lazy” or “sure, now keep walking, it’s probably not that bad.” Not everyone will express their opinion out loud, but people will think about why you’re “just not making a bit more of an effort”. MS fatigue is more or less an invisible symptom and it’s hard to explain exactly what it feels like. Some people will stop talking, walking or you will notice changes in their behaviour. Unlike normal tiredness fit people feel after exercising or working 8h a day, MS fatigue is an…
Living in Ireland: a life less ordinary
When I moved from Belgium to Ireland in 2002, I was on top of the world. I thought knew all I had to know about Ireland and sure, I’d adapt very quickly to living life a little bit slower than I was used to. Of course I had traveled to Ireland before actually moving over here, and had fallen in love with it even harder than I ever thought I would. Dublin was a small disappointment at first because the truth is, Dublin is just like any other European capital. But the people, they were and still are the ones that would have me ending up in a stitch, or leave me wondering about their sanity on more than one occasion. A wise man once said: “This is one race…
The Celtic Tree of Life… sort of!
Ever hugged a tree? No? Okay… Maybe you’ve thought about hugging a tree, or something that looked like a tree? The ancient Celts – there are very few real ones left in Ireland -adored and believed fairies lived in trees, assigning them special powers. I love trees myself, often strong and unwilling to move whatever goes against them, rejuvenating themselves year after year. Ireland was tree-paradise, but once the English set foot on our shores, and saw that Irish trees would make for better ships, their naval fleet happily sang chop-ahoy-chop-chop-them- oaks. In short: aside from having to sacrifice land, language, music, traditions, and food, Ireland had to offer their sacred trees to the enemies of the day. Now, all that aside, I love to think I have some Celtic…
I will survive!
What do you do when you are faced with a 5-minute life-changing situation that will affect the rest of your life? Do you run, do you freak out, do you sit back and take it all in or do you simply just get on with life and let the future reveal itself? I’ve been through a few of those life-changing events. In fact, I’ve been through a few too many in too short a time. But, as the old adage goes, life goes on. You keep on going with the flow, obviously. What else can you do, otherwise? You know you are not the only one who is or will be faced with things that will impact their lives forever. Now, I am not the one to rethink and over-analyse,…