Living life with a chronic illness is definitely not easy. But I do my best to push through all the barriers this illness puts in front of me! In my heart and mind, I believe maintaining a positive outlook on all situations in life will carry us through to much better times! I hope you find the information that I provide both helpful and inspirational!
Happy Saturday, y’all! After a long and frustrating week, how do you want to spend your weekend? With today being the first day of the weekend, all I wanted to do was sleep in, but that did not happen. It was not just the way things typically go by waking up at the same time I normally do, and was much worst than that. For the past two days, the pain in my legs and feet has been at a miserable high. I have not been able to get comfortable and sleep well, which makes me feel abnormally tired and irritated. I know things could be far worse, but Multiple Sclerosis often feels like a punishment for something I did in life, and no matter how many times I apologize, it does not end! I guess it would help if I knew what the punishment was for.
I think our lives are nothing more than a series of events that help to shape us and build our strength. I am not sure who said that we are not given more than we can handle because I think they may have been incorrect or overly optimistic. Of course, for the most part, all the challenges we face in life do not kill us, and maybe they make us stronger, but when does it end? When have we endured enough struggles and hardships, and can have even one day that is easy? I know we were never promised an easy life, but I think we should be able to have a short break from pain and struggles!
Do you feel you always have to be strong? Do you feel you must stay optimistic because if you do not, that would mean you are weak? Do you always have an authentic smile on your face, or is that smile often fake? Why should we have to pretend we are okay when we are crying on the inside? I think that it should be okay to not be okay all of the time, this does not make someone weak, but stronger. Admitting we are in pain and need a little help makes us human. We all try to pretend everything is okay and that life is perfect, but if we were being honest with ourselves and everyone else, we would admit we are perfectly imperfect humans, and that should be okay!
Thank you for visiting my site today. While this is not the most positive post I have done, and I do apologize for that, I am being honest. When someone is in excruciating pain and they understand it may not end, why is it not acceptable to just admit it? Accepting something unpleasant in life is the first step, and you can only go up from that point on. I hope you enjoyed this post, and it may have resonated with how you are feeling. Please understand, even though it may seem like it, you are not alone. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
There are many things we never go without in life that we might wish we did not have to encounter, such as pain, struggles, disappointments, loss, and stress. However, many things in this life are amazing and we treasure them, such as love. No matter what struggles we endure in life, it is always important to remember that you can get through it and the bad times will not last forever. I do understand how difficult it can be to go through hard times that seem like they will never change, but during the struggles, it takes determination and resilience before you see the light of the wonderful days again.
The past few weeks have been stressful and extremely challenging, but I have always refused to give up and surrender to them. We must fight through the bad days or weeks and eventually, things will change for the better, or at least that is what I must keep telling myself. Yes, I have been VERY angry with my doctor’s office because the medication that I take for Multiple Sclerosis has been a lifesaver and kept the disease from progressing, but if I allow myself to let the stress control me, no medication in the world can prevent the disease from progressing because stress is the #1 killer in the world.
The weather has cleared up, but it is still dreary and chilly. The best way to spend the last day of the weekend is nice and comfortable on the couch with my sweet cats and under a heating blanket. The heating blanket has been somewhat helpful with the massive leg pain I am dealing with today. I am 99% sure the leg pain is due to the rainy weather and because I have spent days cleaning the house. Some might think that I am insane, but cleaning helps me to relax and recuperate from weeks of stress.
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope you enjoyed what I have shared, and the quote resonates with you. How did you spend your last day of the weekend? I am looking forward to reading your comments and I will respond as quickly as I can. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
Hello Sunday and the last day of the weekend☹, y’all! I knew it was going to be a rainy day, but what I did not know was how much my legs were going to hurt today. Of course, we lost an hour of sleep due to what I believe is the last time we will have to time change, but my cats were unaware of this and started to wake me up SUPER early. The older cat started walking all over my legs at 6:30 AM and it hurt more than normal. I think today is going to have to be a lazy day and I will not be doing anything strenuous. How are you planning to spend your day? What do you think of time change?
This is not something any of us should be thinking about because we do have the rest of the day before the workweek begins. Of course, I am always thinking ahead of time and am already planning my day tomorrow because it will involve dealing with the Gilenya nonsense again! I am hoping that things will go better with the MS medication tomorrow because I cannot deal with any more stress involved with this situation. I do think I am going to start today to try to find out if there are any other good neurologists where I live.
Do you enjoy rainy days? Honestly, I would much prefer to have rainy days when I am not working because it is an excuse to not do anything! Rain always increases my pain level. On the pain scale, my normal pain level hovers around a 4, but when it is raining it pushes up to around a 9. While I write this post, my pain level seems to be well past a 10. Unfortunately, there is nothing that helps the pain, so I just have to deal with it and not let it get me down.
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing day. Is there anything that you can do to relieve your pain when it gets out of control? I am looking forward to reading your comments and I will respond as quickly as I can. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
Happy Saturday, y’all! Let the two days begin with no work and hopefully, NO stress! After the past several weeks, all I wanted to be able to do today is to sleep in a little. Unfortunately, two out of three of my cats had other ideas and ganged up on me to get me out of bed even earlier than I normally get up. I love all three of my cats, but my goodness, the smaller one and the older one can be a little too demanding and needy. I hope the rest of the day can be somewhat relaxing and maybe even be able to take a short nap!
On top of being forced to get up MUCH earlier than I had planned, I woke up with severe pain. I am sure the reason for the intense pain is that to destress and release frustrations, I cleaned the house. I vacuumed the entire house and got on my hands and knees to clean the bathroom and kitchen floor. What do you do to destress and release your frustrations? I do still have a few more things to do before the house is completely cleaned, but it will not involve the vacuum.
I hope today you can do something special for yourself because we all deserve this. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain all day, so I will be on the couch with the cats and watching something on TV, which will probably be reruns of my favorite show. What does the rest of your weekend look like? Do you have anything planned or will you just relax and chill? It is the weekend, so you do not have to do anything you do not want to! I need to try doing as little as possible because on Monday I will be back to work and dealing with the Gilenya situation.
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing day. Remember to think about yourself because YOU are the only person that can make your life better. Many people always put others’ needs ahead of their own, but we can take a stand and make our own needs a priority. I look forward to reading your comments and I will respond as quickly as possible. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
Most likely many of you are aware that March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness month. There are only 31 days to raise awareness of a disease that impacts and changes the lives of those living with the disease for the rest of their lives. Although I am sure there are more, I am going to share with you 31 reasons why I detest MS. Of course, I do not mean to sound negative, but this disease is anything but pleasant or easy to deal with. Please know these reasons are not in any specific order.
1. This disease is incurable and a lifelong condition.
2. Multiple Sclerosis is unpredictable and can strike at any time without any notice.
3. Neuropathy is something that can cause issues such as pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, and a pins and needles sensation.
4. Random and frequent headaches, which no one could ever get used to.
5. Numerous appointments with different doctors.
6. The expenses of medication are higher than they should be in the United States where free healthcare is not an option.
7. Vision changes can happen to anyone but seem more common with MS.
8. Multiple Sclerosis can be hard to control considering there are no answers to the causes.
9. Never-ending fears of losing mobility.
10. Constant daily changes.
11. Back Pain, which I have lived with for years in my lower to mid back.
12. Leg pain, mostly neuropathy. This can make walking challenging.
13. Heat intolerance, which living in the south can be miserable.
14. Weight gain due to the inability to exercise much because of the pain.
15. Sleeping troubles due to waking up with pain and not being able to fall back to sleep.
16. Frustrations! You can do everything the doctors recommend, but it does not appear to make a difference.
17. Memory issues.
18. Missing the feeling of being normal.
19. Adjusting to weather changes can be challenging. Too hot creates issues, but too cold can cause me to tense and cause even more pain.
20. Dealing with doctors that do not always listen or understand. Doctors may understand the disease as much as they can, but they have no idea what it is like to live with it. Studying and reading can only do so much.
21. Understanding what creates additional issues, such as food, lack of sleep, stress, etc.
22. Worrying about the possibility of progression. This has always been a huge concern for me.
23. No answers regarding the causes of the disease.
24. With the unpredictability, one needs to always have a backup plan. This may be easy, but it is not easy explaining to friends and family.
25. Trying to stay positive without any changes in medical progress.
26. Knowing the best medication for the disease can be different for each person.
27. MS Hug. This is a painful hug that no one would ever want!
28. Dizziness
29. Flareups and steroids can weaken teeth causing them to break easily.
30. Fatigue. It is difficult to always feel tired because you are unable to get enough sleep.
31. Trying to explain to others how one can appear normal but are always in pain.
I have always known that this disease can take away my mobility and it has terrified me since I was diagnosed. Of course, I am always aware that it could be worse because my form of the disease is minor in comparison. I used to believe this disease was a punishment for something I did wrong in life, but logically know that it is not. We all have negative moments in life and trying to push past those thoughts can be challenging, but also necessary. This disease does not discriminate and can happen to anyone.
It is always important to remember that no matter what we are dealing with in life, someone else is dealing with something worse. While I do detest MS, I do know that no of us will have to endure something that we cannot handle. Whether this is true or not, it does help me to keep moving forward. Plus, I did make my late grandfather a promise that I will never all this disease to get and keep me down.
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and you are able to recuperate from last week because I know it was a long week. I hope you found what I have shared today interesting and I look forward to reading your comments. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
Now that we are three days into the new year, are there any changes you want to make? Do you have any struggles or fears that you want to overcome this year? This is something different than creating goals or new habits because I am talking about overcoming things in life. We are all human and we all have fears and things we want to avoid because certain things make us incredibly uncomfortable. I have heard people say the best way to overcome fears is to embrace them and continue doing the things that are feared until the fears do not exist.
I have had an intense fear of the dentist since I was younger. I try my best to avoid the dentist, even for cleanings because they all make me too nervous. Unfortunately, I have had a bad toothache for several days and now I need to swallow my fears and go to the dentist. What a way to begin the new year having to go to the dentist where I know they are going to pull my tooth☹. I can deal with most pain, but I am not able to deal with any pain in my head and the tooth pain is also creating a nasty headache.
Is there anything that you have an intense fear of, and do you have any ways to overcome the fears? Life is so short, and it is probably not good to live with any fears. I do think it is normal to have a fear of things like roller coasters or heights because I think there are a lot of people that feel that way. This may sound crazy, but I do have a fear of roller coasters, but I am fearless when it comes to heights😊!
Thank you for visiting my site today. I know I mentioned on Friday that my husband and I got the 2nd COVID booster, and I was going to do a post about it. Unfortunately, the booster had me out of sorts for a few days. It was the same thing that happened after I got the 1st COVID booster, and I just felt achy and tired for several days. What a way to bring in the New Year, not feeling well because of the COVID booster and awful tooth pain. Maybe I got all the negative out of the way in the first few days of 2023 and the rest of the year will be great😊! I look forward to reading your comments and I will respond as soon as I can. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
As everyone reading this now and who has read some of my previous posts knows, I have had Multiple Sclerosis for over 20 years. This has been something I have lived with for almost half of my life, and I still find it extremely frustrating. Even after all these years, there are still things I do not understand or know about this disease. The one obvious thing is how unpredictable it can be. I do find it amazing how much we can adapt to and tolerate life when we have no other choice but to keep moving forward.
There are many things about Multiple Sclerosis and days living with this disease that can feel like things will never improve, which can make you feel hopeless. Even though I have days when I feel like this, I also believe that we are not forced to deal with anything we cannot handle! Of course, it takes a strength we never knew we had, but it is possible to keep moving forward.
I wish I knew the name of the person who thought they were being clever and humorous by naming something the “MS Hug” because this is the worst kind of hug I have ever heard of. It completely ignored the advice from the experts about social distancing and never considered getting approval before hugging someone. I have always thought that MS Hug was very disrespectful and invasive.
Even though I still do not know who came up with the name, I do know that MS Hug is very uncomfortable, but it is not life-threatening even though it feels like it is at times. The MS Hug is an uncomfortable, sometimes painful tightness or pressure around the abdomen or chest. This can last for seconds or minutes, which is the best-case scenario but can also last hours or longer.
There are two effects of Multiple Sclerosis that can trigger the MS hug to happen. One is muscle spasms in the small muscles between the ribs, known as the intercostal muscles. The second is changes in sensations known as dysesthesia, which while they can be, are not always painful.
Just like everything else regarding Multiple Sclerosis, everyone experiences the MS Hug differently. The ways that help one person may not help another in the same way. Various things can help or even eliminate the MS Hug sensation including the following:
Discover your triggers:
This could include fatigue, temperature changes, eating a large meal, feeling unwell, or being stressed. It may not always be easy to discover what triggers the MS hug, but once you do it may be a good plan to avoid or at least reduce the issues you know are your triggers. Keeping a journal with what the temperature was each day, stress level, feelings of fatigued, and what you eat each day may help to determine what your triggers are.
Loose vs Tight Clothing:
For many people tight clothing triggers, them to experience the MS hug and even makes the sensation worse. This may mean not wearing an underwired bra or removing it as soon as your situation allows. It will just seem logical to wear loose clothing if you know tight clothing causes problems. As with everything else, tight clothing helps some people to deal with the MS hug. For reasons not always understood, the grip of tighter clothing can distract the brain, making the MS hug sensation less noticeable.
Moving and or Stretching:
For some people staying mobile and stretching relieves the pain from the MS hug, but for some people laying down is the only thing that offers them any relief. This is all a matter of personal choice and what helps you the most!
The use of hot or cold compress:
Again, different things work better for each person, so you just need to play around with heat and cold compresses until you know what works best for you. Hot water bottles, warm towels, or a heating pad when applied to the affected area may offer relief. If this does not work, you can try a cold compress or an ice pack to the affected area. Please understand and be careful of both hot and cold as it is easy to cause further damage to the skin.
Physiotherapy or other physical treatments:
his can include TENS which is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. I honestly do not know a lot about this because something about electrical nerve stimulation scares me, but I have heard it can be helpful!
Relaxation, Mindfulness, and CBT:
Relaxation and mindfulness exercises can be helpful for anyone, not just those dealing with MS and the MS hug. Things like self-hypnosis and hypnotherapy have been successful for many people around the world. Controlled breathing techniques can be found with a quick Google search and are inexpensive.
Multiple Sclerosis has come along way with treatment since I was diagnosed, but for some reason there still is not a cure. I wish there was a magical medication that could make all the pain and issues I deal with daily go away, but until there is I will just continue to fight and not allow this unpredictable, frustrating, and ugly disease steal the light and fire I have inside me. As I am sure you can assume, I am dealing with the MS hug right now and it has been a struggle. I am SO thankful that I work from home because with the way I was feeling today, there is no way I could have driven to an office and dealt with being this uncomfortable for 8 very long hours.
Anyone that is reading this and has Multiple Sclerosis, have you dealt with this issue before and if so what helps you? The funny thing is, normally heat is my enemy, but for this issue and other types of pain, my heating pad is my best friend. The only way I can be comfortable is wearing loose clothing because I find that to be the most comfortable. The weather has been changing each week, so I can only assume that might be the reason the evil hug is back!
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope the information that I have shared was useful and interesting to you. I am looking forward to reading your comments because I am sure what you have to say will be helpful. I hope you had a good week and you have an amazing weekend! Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
Happy Midweek day! I prefer to not use the actual name of the days because it makes it seem like the week is never going to end! Just saying midweek makes me think the week will be ending soon! I think it is mostly due to the weather, but this has felt like an extremely LONG week, and I am looking forward to the weekend more than normal! I do hope your week has been great and you are feeling well!
How do you feel about rainy and chilly days? The past few days have been much chillier than it has been and yesterday was rainy and chilly! I think the rain and cooler temperatures have something to do with the miserable headache I had on Sunday night, into Monday morning. The cooler temperatures are much better than the alternative of insanely HOT weather I dealt with for too many months, but it does cause my muscles to tense, which does increase pain. Do you notice any differences in how you feel when it is rainy and/or chilly? This is the kind of weather that makes my cats want to cuddle much more!
One thing I will say is, I do prefer the temperatures to be cooler instead of too hot. When the temperatures are in the upper 90’s, I feel miserable because that level of heat causes more exhaustion and irritation. It is awful when you are unable to walk from your front door to your car without being drenched, almost like you just got out of the shower, again! When it is cooler, you can add more clothing to warm up. Of course, when it is extremely hot, you cannot take enough off clothing to cool down.
What would your perfect temperature be? In a perfect place, I would view things as not getting warmer than the upper 80’s and then not colder than the 40’s. Maybe people who live with Multiple Sclerosis experience temperatures differently because no two cases are exactly the same. It seems so strange to me that I cannot handle the extreme heat, but a heating pad in the winter helps my leg and back pain tremendously.
Now that we have almost made it through this week and there are fewer days before the weekend returns, I think we could all use a little inspiration! I hope you will find the quote I am sharing with y’all today inspiring, and that it helps you survive the last part of this week! The good news is that the weekend will be here soon, and we do not have much longer. I think the rest of this week is supposed to be cooler, but there should not be any more rain😊!
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope you are having a good week and you are keeping your stress levels as low as possible. I am very interested to read your comments and I promise to respond as quickly as possible. Thankfully, we are always through this week, so we are much closer to the weekend than we were yesterday😊! This is the only way I can get through these weeks as they feel so LONG! Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
For those that view their pets more like a member of their family, it is easy to develop a close, long-lasting, and loving bond with them. Animals have amazing intuition and instincts of how we are feeling at any given time. I can speak from experience considering the fact I live in constant pain, and I have noticed my cats seem to be aware of where I am hurting.
Unfortunately, I do not think animals are given credit for their abilities and too many are not loved and respected the way they should be. I detest seeing stories about animals being mistreated and abused because none of them deserve this type of treatment. I will never understand why some people have pets when they are not willing to care for them and provide them with a loving and safe home. My cats are spoiled rotten, and I would rather ensure they have food than myself having what I need.
Recently, I had to miss work due to increased pain. I have always known that pure love from our cats can make anything better, but they took it to a new level last week😊! While I was out of work I had the best kind of medicine ever, it was personal and dedicated kitty therapy😊! We have three cats and they all participated in helping me to rest and feel better. When I have a terrible headache, which happens frequently, our cats think they can make it better by laying on or near my head and purring so sweetly! They typically will lay on whatever part of my body is hurting and can help that pain so much.
Many people only view cats as small creatures that cannot protect their owners and do not see how special they are or think of them as an annoyance. There are numerous ways that a cat helps people. A cat’s purr can relieve stress, feelings of anxiety, and depression. Your cat’s purr can help you to heal from illness faster and to live a happier life! Cats are better than any human doctor or psychologist.
Anytime I am having a bad day, am stressed, or upset our cats can sense something is wrong immediately. I remember when I was devastated when I was laid off from my job, our cats did everything they could to console me, laying on my lap and purring! It seems to bother them tremendously when they see me crying and it almost makes them just as sad.
Do you have any pets, and do you consider them your family? If you have any pets, do you feel they help you feel better daily? There is no denying the fact that animals love unconditionally and are more loyal than most humans. What I do not understand is why so many animals are abandoned and mistreated because all they need is love. When humans are mistreated and or abused by another human, the abuser faces serious criminal charges, right? In my opinion, a human that abuses or neglects an innocent animal should face criminal consequences just as seriously as if they were abusing another human.
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope you are enjoying your weekend and you found some meaning in what I have shared today. I would love to read you comments and will respond as quickly as I can. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
I try my best to never miss work, especially considering I work from home, but I did have to miss work yesterday. I have been dealing with increased pain and dizziness for several days, which I am assuming has to do with the constant weather changes because my body takes time to adjust so when the weather changes too frequently, I do not have time to adjust. The weather changes tend to wrack havoc on my body and make me miserable, but I should be used to this after over 20 years of living with Multiple Sclerosis.
It has always been difficult for me to call out of work sick because I end up beating myself up about it and think I should have just pushed myself a little harder. Missing work yesterday took a lot for me to do, but I will say I needed the time to take care of myself, which has never been something I was good at doing. I am much better as the caretaker of others than I am at taking care of myself. Even though I hated missing work, I will say that my amazing supervisor was understanding and a few of my co-workers even sent me messages to check on me. I guess you can say, I work with some incredible and very caring people😊!
We have made it through the majority of the week and only have a couple of days left before the weekend returns. With that said, I think we could all use a little pick-me-up to help us through the final part of the week! I hope you will enjoy the quote that I am sharing with you today and that it provides you with the fight to get through the last part of this week! The worst thing we can do to ourselves is to be an obstacle and get in our way of success because we are better than that and deserve more. We are strong and amazing individuals with much determination and strength! Of course, we all need a reminder of this!
Thank you for visiting my site today. I hope you have had a good week and you are feeling well. I hope you enjoyed what I have shared today and you found the quote helpful to get through the rest of the week. I am looking forward to reading your comments and I will respond as quickly as I can. Please never forget that I am always sending y’all LOTS of love, comfort, support, and MANY positive vibes!
Fightmsdaily 