Welcome to the Living Well with MS Coffee Break, where we are pleased to welcome Joia Lewis as our guest! Joia lives in Estoril, Portugal. She was diagnosed primary progressive multiple sclerosis and follows the Overcoming MS program.   

Watch this episode on YouTube here. Keep reading for the key episode takeaways.     

Topics and Timestamps: 

02:01 You’ve had quite an international and multicultural life, which has taken you full circle back to Portugal. Can you tell us a bit about this whirlwind trajectory?  

04:27 When were you diagnosed with PPMS how did you initially deal with it?  

07:30 You have had a rich career as an academic, serving as a professor of philosophy of science. And now you’re an essayist, blogger and occasional editor. How did your academic focus inform your approach to dealing with the realities of experiencing MS? 

10:24 At which point did you come across the Overcoming MS program? Why did you decide to start following it?  

13:33 Why did you choose to follow Overcoming MS?  

15:10 What are some of the challenges you’ve faced at first in adopting the Overcoming MS program? How did you overcome them? 

17:07 When did you first start to see any kind of positive indicators in following Overcoming MS guidelines? What were these?  

18:45 How can people best deal with the anxieties surrounding experiencing MS symptoms? 

21:27 You’ve been a valuable member of the Overcoming MS community. You’re the ambassador of the Overcoming MS Circle currently covering all of Portugal. What’s that experience like?  

25:43 If there is one piece of advice you can share with people new to the Overcoming MS program, what would that be?  

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More info and links:    

• Read Joia’s blog post about her PPMS journey   

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