LIVING WITH MS AND KEEPING IT NATURAL - PART 1
In the summer of 1994, following a hot and beautiful summer holiday in my home country, two of my children and I came back to Canada. As a mother of young children and a wife of a hard-working man in the construction business, I had a load of chores and business related activities to catch up on. In addition to all the work we also had a big heat wave here, even though it wasn’t as bad as the one in Switzerland. About two weeks after our return, I woke up one morning with blurry vision in my left eye, as if a thick grey veil had been placed over it. So I phoned the doctor for an appointment the next day. I was also very tired but not getting my minimum eight hours of sleep every night caused me to blame lack of rest for my fatigue.

The doctor gave me some eye drops with the remark to let him know if the blurred vision continued. Of course, it didn’t go away!! That was when I switched doctors and went to see a reputable eye doctor on my own. My husband then suspected a connection with Multiple Sclerosis, because I had a weak arm the winter before and we thought it was related to the nasty influenza going around that year.

My diet was healthy since I immigrated to Canada in 1979, because health and wellness were always a passion of mine. With two healthy daughters and a hard-working husband my life got very busy and my stress level increased. We also attended a church so the kids would get extra encouragement in finding their way to God. This meant many more chores for both parents and children, as well as a big time commitment. Other than that, the thought of ever having such a diagnosis never entered my mind, even though I had a grandfather who died young of the disease.

It only took from September to December for the official diagnosis thanks to the good eye doctor and his wife who specialized in the muscles and nerves of eyes. Still, this diagnosis was a shock for us, and we were in denial for a long time. I registered in a cross-country class right away to test my leg strength, and we had a Reverse Osmosis water filter installed immediately for better drinking water.
One of the biggest symptoms that can’t be seen is the fatigue, others are blurry vision, blindness, numbness and tingling in hands(arms) and feet (legs), slurred speech, coordination problems, a staggering gait, dizziness and a leg weakness. Until recently, MS was thought to be primarily a neurodegenerative disease, but today there is new research indicating that it is a vascular blockage issue in many cases.

There are three different kinds of MS that I know of: Relapsing-Remitting (RRMS), Secondary-progressive MS (SPMS) where symptoms tend to grow steadily worse for several years after the first symptoms appear, and Primary-progressive MS (PPMS), the form where symptoms grow worse steadily.

There are many different strategies for coping with any disability: a positive mental attitude is as important as enough sleep, a proper diet and regular exercise with a healthy lifestyle.
Read more about my personal MS story next month!