MS Awareness

May is MS Awareness month in Canada, so I thought it would be a good time to share some of the things I have recently learned about the disease in hopes of raising awareness.

Proper Diet

I've always known that eating a balanced diet is important for overall health, but I had no idea how important it is when it comes to managing symptoms and even the progression of MS. A proper diet for those with MS can of course vary, depending on the individual, but overall the relationship between diet and MS can involve: (1) the role of gut bacteria in immune disorders (2) vitamin deficiencies (3) some nutrients can support and even protect the nervous system (4) benefits of a healthy diet to support overall wellbeing. 

Eliminating gluten, dairy, and refined sugar from my diet has significantly decreased my symptoms. Even today, if I eat any of these things, I can instantly feel the tightness in my abdomen and swelling in my feet. Diet change has been the most helpful thing for me so far.

Added Expense 

To begin, I'd like to say that I feel extremely lucky with my MS  journey so far, for a variety of reasons. The most important of which is having access to group benefits through my and Katie's employers. I'm taking the medication Aubagio, which is one of the milder MS medications available. If we didn't have this group benefit coverage, we’d be paying about $3,000 a month out of pocket to cover the cost of the meds. I had no idea how expensive treatment could be!

Variety of Symptoms 

I also had no idea that when someone is diagnosed with MS, they could experience such a wide range of symptoms. Research has shown that it’s challenging to generalize about the impact of the disease because it manifests in so many different ways, in different parts of the body, and to varying degrees. I have yet to meet two people who have had the same experience / sequence of symptoms.   Although there can be similarities, each person is dealing with the disease in their own unique way.

Canadian Stats 

Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. For me, I know of only one other person who has MS, and I assumed it was a one-off or uncommon occurrence but it turns out there’s over 90,000 Canadians living with MS – that’s about 1 in every 400. Canada also has the MS Society of Canada, an organization that invests the majority of its efforts on research to help find a cure.

Vitamin D

Who knew that the sun would become so important in my life?!?! Vitamin D has become critical to my overall health and wellbeing, and having adequate amounts of vitamin D helps me deal with my flare ups and other accompanying issues. I’ll be taking pills every day now while also trying to get as much prescription sun as possible!

Anyway, these are just a few examples of things I didn't know before my diagnosis and had to quickly understand!  

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll share some more things I've recently learned in the hopes of raising more awareness.

 -        Jesse