MS: Adapt, Organize and Be Kind To Yourself

You wake up; the day lays ahead, a fresh new start, another day filled with opportunity. If you have multiple sclerosis, you NEVER know how the day will go, but you can always be optimistic.

In the morning, I am at my greatest energy level. I begin the day early and make sure I take my shot of Copaxone http://www.copaxone.com because my memory sucks and my writing down my daily doses is almost as unreliable.

Once that is done, I make the coffee, breakfast for my husband and begin my duties of feeding the pets (dog, two cats, three Peruvian guinea pigs). While doing this, I usually turn on the television to make sure our country is still here...

The early morning is dark these days and in less than a month, it'll be dark by 5 p.m. so I'm sure I'll be altering my daily schedule according to the daylight versus the dark. I actually prefer cloudy, rainy, dark days to the days full of heat and sunshine and it does affect my energy level!

I try to get all the bills paid, laundry done, and dinner, at least planned. I follow up on my column, answer emails, write in my journal and plan any upcoming events or doctor's appointments. If I stay on task, I usually have everything done by 2 p.m. After that, my energy dwindles and a quickie nap is imminent. Thank goodness I awake before Montel's show, hoping that today will bring a program about the latest innovations in multiple sclerosis. http://www.montelms.org

Everyone's life has a different schedule. With today's world, we have many things to accomplish and are often taken off-task by our unpredictable symptoms such as vision problems, balance problems, depression, pain, unpredictable legs and feet that may or may not be responsive to your simple command of 'walk'. Your hands might suddenly get numb and tingly and you are left with a pair of useless bear paws! Hopefully you are at home if you suffer from bowel/bladder incontinence, another energy zapper.

Folks with multiple sclerosis can contribute just as much as anyone else, they just need to have more foresight, multi-tasking and organizational skills to keep up with all our world's demands. We can spend the rest of our lives on the outside looking in life feeling sorry for ourselves as victims of a tragic fate. Or we can view our illness as a call to action -- an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of millions who suffer from MS and their loved ones.

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