Life with MS: don’t let people steal your identity
The feeling of stigmatization is a real one, especially when you have invisible disabilities when you don’t sit in a wheelchair (yet). It is also why society at large feels it has the right to question your medical status, whether asked for or not. Therefore, the feeling of guilt is an experience that many people with MS struggle with in different ways, even when we cannot begin to grasp why we are being questioned in the first place.
Valentine’s Day, just another chronically ill day
Ergo, XXL tracksuit sweater, leggings, and Ugg boots. The coif of the day, so to speak, because you're not expecting a past beau to walk in and wipe you off your feet (you can do all that yourself with MS balance issues that hit you hugging the floor). So, any beaus out there? You should've put a ring on it when you could've. Even Beyonce got so flustered she had to sing about it.
COVID-19: a thought-provoking, dire warning by WHO’s Dr Mike Ryan
It is time to take mental and emotional health more seriously. If not your own, then try to understand the impact medical professionals feel each day, experiencing repeated exposure to abhorrent events that turned hospital wards into medical warzones.
MS + single on Valentine’s Day?
You can channel your inner delightfully, dazzling diva while wearing pyjamas, dog-shaped winter socks, leg warmers and your turban hair towel.
Pull up your big girl panties!
Let me count… Roughly speaking, I was diagnosed with MS about 5000 days ago. That’s one fair bit of experience under my hood, right? But… When talking to people, new or otherwise, it can be difficult telling them you’re living with an incurable neurodegenerative illness. Sometimes it feels like being in an uninterrupted car crash, minus the brakes, seatbelt or the steering wheel, especially when they add their own preconceived ideas about MS based on hearsay or pop-culture folly. Even if you’ve been living with MS for a decade or for just one day, you’re occasionally hitting walls of guessing, worries, disbelief and/or anger at each turn. You’re in denial. (they’re probably as well at first) You’re angry. (there’s a fair chance they are trying to remain cool under pressure when you…
MS and single on Valentine’s Day?
You can channel your inner delightfully, dazzling diva while wearing pyjamas, dog-shaped winter socks, leg warmers and your turban hair towel. You can drag your duvet to the living room, watch Romeo + Juliet and cry for an hour afterward because Leo died when he shouldn't have (Damn you William Shakespeare!)
Being real!
Despite chronic pain and fatigue issues, I am making the best of my life, and I am doing everything possible to be the best version of myself as I can be. All I ask of you is some understanding of what I am going through, and know that every bad day is only making me stronger. Some days, though, I want you to hold my hand or hug me and tell me that everything will be OK.
