Another way to get around...
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease with many different faces. The number of ways a person can be affected by it are as many as the number of people who have the disease. There is a group of symptoms that are fairly common to all MS patients, however, and knowing deal with each of them can be very helpful to friends and family members. This article outlines that cluster of symptoms and provides tips for patients and their .
Instructions
1. The first thing every MS patient and his/her family should know is that MS is an illness, but no illness should define who a person really is. It is particularly easy to forget that with MS patients, because the illness can seem to take over a person's life at times.
Although most people tend to picture someone who is severely handicapped and in a wheelchair with MS, that is actually only a small percentage of the people who have the disease. Most MS patients are women, but men can also get MS.
2. Multiple Sclerosis is an auto-immune disease in which the patient's own cells destroy the myelin sheath that protects nerve endings in the brain and spinal column. The part of the brain or spine that is affected varies from one person to the next, which explains the differences in symptoms from one patient to the next. A truly "typical" MS patient would be a woman diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, who experiences symptoms at irregular intervals throughout her life. Many patients retain a symptom or two all the time, with full-blown attacks bringing on additional symptoms from time to time. As the disease progresses, attacks occur more frequently and with more debilitating results.
3. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms may include:
• "Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs, which typically occurs on one side of your body at a time or the bottom half of
• Partial or complete loss of vision, usually in one eye at a time, often with pain during eye movement (optic neuritis)
• Double vision or blurring of vision
• Tingling or pain in parts of your body
• Electric-shock sensations that occur with certain head movements
• Tremor, lack of coordination or unsteady gait
• Fatigue
• Dizziness"
Another common problem experienced by MS patients is "foot drop," which can occur only during attacks or can become a constant issue. If your friend seems to be dragging one foot, it's probably foot drop.
4. A large percentage of MS patients have a "relapsing-remitting" form of the disease, meaning the symptoms are present for a while (the relapse) and then they go away (the remission). When the patient suffers myelin damage that leads to permanent paralysis or other changes, the disease is called "progressive." The people you see in wheelchairs or with long-term loss of bladder or bowel control have a progressive form of MS. Other long-term changes can include muscle stiffness or spasms, loss of vocabulary or concentration, forgetfulness, depression and even seizures.
5. Heat may aggravate or trigger the symptoms of an attack in many MS patients. Some are not affected by heat, but an MS patient should not be left in a sauna, hot tub or even a hot home without somebody there to assist them if the heat should suddenly become a problem. A common reaction to heat is profound weakness in the limbs, sometimes to the point that the patient is not able to move. One of the most common and most painful complaints among my MS friends is the unbelievable burning sensation in the feet. Just as there is no cure for MS, there is also no real remedy for this miserable feeling. It can be excruciating to simply have a bedsheet touch the sole of the foot, and walking may prove impossible.
6. So, what's the best way to help someone with MS? Be proactive about things like heat, pay attention to signs that the person may be in the early stages of an attack, and try to help without smothering them. Because MS is so unpredictable, the patient may not recognize the signs until they are well into an attack. On the other hand, they may try to work around symptoms in hopes nobody will notice.
Frustration is common in both the patients and their loved ones, so take a deep breath and try to be patient. It's embarrassing to a grown man or woman who finds him/herself forgetting basic vocabulary ("chair," for example), slurring, stumbling, wetting themselves, etc. Add to that the fright of going to bed with everything working and waking up without feeling in one or both legs or arms, and the bizarre/painful sensations they get due to random nerve activity. It may be all the patient can do just to keep calm and pleasant. If they shut you out, you'll have a much harder time being of any help at all.
7. Try not to hover but be aware, be available if they need you, and go with the flow. If you notice your wife has hairy legs while she's having an MS seige, offer to shave them. (An electric razor might be smart if she's prone to any sort of leg jerking!) She may not be able to do that for herself but might not want to ask for help. If your husband refuses to answer the phone at home, it may be because he doesn't want people to hear his speech difficulties or sound "stupid" when he loses a word or three.
8. If your MS patient truly trusts you to love them as they are, you may even find them poking fun at themselves during an attack. Go with that flow, too. Have a private laugh with them when they laugh at themselves. Sometimes, nothing feels better to the patient than to simply have a good laugh at the expense of their body, since they certainly can't control it. Keeping in mind that the worst of it is usually only temporary can make it less frustrating when the body betrays its owner.
Tags: your body, foot drop, have disease, loved ones, Multiple Sclerosis, patients their, patients their loved