Benefits of Massage

I am so lucky to get a massage every month. When they told me that massage was good for people with MS to keep everything moving and loose, I thought, " Well that is one nice thing out of this darn diagnosis." Each month I look forward to the hour of letting go and feeling good. When I was on Avonex, it was painful in the areas where the injection was, so the massage therapist had to avoid that. No biggie, the rest of the body needed it. I saw this article at Massage Envy, where I go for my massages. I have a few therapists there I would highly recommend if you want to go there. Here is what I thought was worth sharing that I read today from their ME Magazine.


-Studies have shown that massage can improve mobility.
- Regular massage therapy treatments help boost the immune system.


Those are just two points of the benefits of massage. It is not only good for those with MS, but for everyone as well. Think about it!

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"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action,"- W.J. Cameron

Thankful for Your Support

It is the week of Thanksgiving and I wanted to reflect on all things I am thankful for. I want to thank all of you who read this blog. I really hope you get something out of this blog and if not thank you for just listening to me blab! I want to thank all those who fight MS. You are a fighter and can do this. Keep your head high and let the dight continue. Together we can do this! I want to thank my husband. Nathan, you are my everything and your love and support is incredible. You seriously are the most amazing person. Thankful for all my parents do and are. They are the best examples of people I want to be like. Their continual support means the world to me. They mean the world to me. To my family, you all are wonderful people who continually support as well. I am very blessed to have all that behind me and a inspiration ahead of me to continue to fight this disease. To my friends, especially the one who hates needles but comes to treatments anyways and the one who says, "I would do anything for you." Having all the friendships and support through this all is so appreciated and touching. To all my new "friends" in Empowered Living. Being part of this group now has been such a gift of hope. To provide support and assistance to one another who are going through the same thing, is such a awesome feeling. To all my doctors and nurses who help me throughout the year.  All of them are special in their own ways too. And for all the people I may have forgot to mention. I am one very, very blessed and thankful person. I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! Be thankful and take the time to recognize who and what you are really thankful for! There is a lot of good and good people in this world. I am so lucky to have many of them in my life. Happy Thanksgiving!!

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"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."- William Jones

MS Meeting

Last night was such a fun night. I hosted my first MS meeting with a group called Empowered Living. I did not know what to expect from a support group like this. The only time I had been around a group of people with MS, it was basically a pitty party that scared the crap out of me. This was so not like that. It was a group of people sitting around a table bringing topics of all areas up and asking for advice from each other. We laughed so much and you saw hope in people's eyes last night. I left there thinking, "Wow, that was cool." It is amazing, that some thoughts I have had, others have too. Or topics I had no idea about were explained and a bond was made by all of us there last night. We are all in this together now, even if each of our MS stories are different. The founder of the group, Erin, is one to thank for starting this all up. She made a statement that we are the new faces of MS. Young people are the new faces of MS. We are the ones who will change the way this disease affects our lives and bring on new research for ourselves and for others who will be diagnosed. How awesome is that to be part of something that is going to change future generations. I can do this, last night confirmed that even more. I may not like this disease, which is fine, but if I am going to help others out now by having it, well then bring it on! Special thanks to my parents for donating the pizza and salads for the meeting, thanks to my aunt Debbie for getting the room for the meeting, and thanks to all the ones who came out for the meeting. I only see great things to come from this and can not wait to be a part of it all!

Say It the Way It Is

I get an MS magazine called Momentum from the National MS Society. It is a wealth of knowledge for those with MS. I look forward to a new one every time. With that said, this edition had a section in it about MS pain. I wanted to share a few inserts from this article that "say it the way it is."


-According to recent research, nearly half of all people with MS are thought to live with some level of chronic or recurring pain. Perhaps one in every four people with MS-related pain say that it's severe enough to hurt their quality of life.


-Although pain can't be measured with objective tools, this symptom of MS is just as real as any other.  Just ask the people who have it. Some say their legs feel heavy and numb, or as if they are being cut off or impaled on hot pokers. Some say they constantly ache, as if with perpetual flu, or they feel bruised, or they feel a suffocating pressure around the chest. Yet they don't have the flu, there are no knives or pokers, and they haven't been beaten or crushed.


-"Just because we can't see pain,we should not ignore it. It is real and can affect the quality of life."- Researcher Stephn Waxman, MS, PhD.


MS pain has hit me in full swing lately. It has been something I have not experienced as bad before. It has become a more constant, chronic pain each day. It is so ironic this article came out that gave me hope that there is so much research and help to assist in this area of MS. This is just another stepping stone in my MS to figure out what best fits me. It is taking a while to figure out what it is to do that helps, what it is to avoid or do less of, but in time I will figure it out. Let's hope. Constant pain wears a person out!  So these explanations are just a few of what a life with MS pain is like. Keep the fight alive!!!

Start TODAY

Happy November everyone! I know a lot of you do not like winter but I am so excited! I love all the colors, clothes, boots, and knowing the Holidays are almost here! And with the Holidays almost here life starts tog et a bit crazy. So I am here to tell you this...Don't forget about taking care of you. We all tend to live the life of," I will just do it tomorrow," "I will start tomorrow." Start TODAY! Whatever it is you need to do, start it. That is always the hardest part is to start but once you do, it's the best feeling! You do not get your time or days back, so don't wish you did. Life is short, let's enjoy every moment we can, doing whatever it is we can.