Can Do MS

New Year’s resolutions often involve aspirations to improve wellness. While wellness is frequently thought to include just diet and exercise, it includes many more dimensions. Can Do MS and the National MS Society recognize six dimensions of wellness: 1) Diet, Exercise, and Healthy Behaviors, 2) Relationships, 3) Work and Home, 4) Emotional Wellbeing, 5) Spirituality, and 6) Cognitive Well Being. Learning about what is included under each dimension of wellness, thinking about them on your own and with others, including your support partner, can help you to prioritize your wellness needs and then select the wellness dimension that you wish to improve.

Cognitive changes are common among individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), affecting 40-60% of the MS population. Much like physical MS symptoms, cognitive changes vary widely from person to person. Whereas many individuals with MS experience slowed processing speed as their predominate cognitive difficulty, others may experiences problems across a number of cognitive areas including learning, memory, problem-solving, and word-finding. Given the wide range of cognitive difficulties, treatments for cognitive impairment in MS are not a one-size-fits-all approach.

Over 2.2 million Americans are in the “sandwich generation” – simultaneously providing support to aging parents/in-laws and at least one child under age 18. Providing support has significant positive effects, but also poses financial, emotional, psychological, social, and marital burdens. Caring for yourself and others is a team-effort, so it’s important to work together to maintain a balanced give-and-take in your relationships.

While no one plans to get sick or hurt, health insurance protects you from unexpected medical costs and offers other benefits like preventative care. We have taken some common questions and offered strategies and solutions to help to navigate this sometimes overwhelming world of health insurance.

We know that people with MS tend to experience other health conditions that precede or coincide with the MS. It’s helpful for people with MS and their families to know where to turn and how best to coordinate their care.

When life feels like it is at its worst, you have the opportunity to be at your best. Receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) represents one of these junctures. What is helpful is recognizing you can shift your mindset and respond with positivity; decreasing your stress and increasing your overall wellness.

Multiple sclerosis can present ongoing changes to the person with MS and support partners. Changes to strength, balance, coordination, dexterity, and other physical abilities are not uncommon. Making intelligent changes to your home to improve environmental accessibility is important to compensate for these changes, while promoting as much independence as possible and, most importantly, ensuring the safety of the person with MS, as well as the whole family.

MS is commonly associated with a variety of visual disturbances. To maximize function, independence and safety, it is important to successfully incorporate compensatory strategies into purposeful occupations and functional daily activities in the home, in leisure skills, at work, and in the community.

We all know that exercise is important and researchers are finding increased specific benefits related to multiple sclerosis. Can Do MS believes that exercise will help you in all facets of your life, and these benefits are achievable to everyone. A well-balanced fitness program needs a number of components - some tangible, some not so tangible.

Don’t weight for wellness! Build your MS team to help you focus on what you can control! Recruit a physical therapist or exercise physiologist who understands MS to help you establish an exercise and/or physical activity routine that suits your ability levels. We also suggest seeking the guidance of a registered dietitian (RD or RDN) who understands the challenges of MS to help you make manageable and sustainable changes to your diet.