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Neat letter to those who don't understand: What living with MS feels like

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    Neat letter to those who don't understand: What living with MS feels like

    What living with MS feels like..:

    When We Say We Can’t do Something Because We don’t Feel Well, Put yourself in Our Shoes By Using The Examples of our Symptoms Below…

    - Painful Heavy Legs: Apply Tightly 20 LB ankle weights and 15 LB thigh weights then take a 1 mile walk, clean the house, go shopping and then sit down – how ya’ feeling now?

    - Painful Feet: Put equal or unequal amounts of small pebbles in each shoe then take a walk, if we are mad at you we would prefer needles to pebbles.

    - Loss of Feeling in Hands and/or Arms: Put on extra thick gloves and a heavy coat then try and pick up a pencil, if successful stab yourself in the arm.

    - Loss of Feeling in Feet and/or Legs: Ask a doc for a shot of novocaine in both of your legs and then try and stand up and walk without looking like the town drunk. Hopefully you won’t fall down.

    - TN (Trigeminal Neuralgia): Take an ice pick and jam it into your ear or cheek whenever the wind blows on it, or a stray hair touches it. If you want something easier to do, get someone to punch you in the jaw preferably daily.

    - Uncontrollable Itching: Glue or sew small steel wool pads to the inside of your shirt, pants and undergarments wear them for an entire day.

    - Tingling: Stick your finger in an electrical socket – preferably wet.

    - Tight Banded Feeling: Put 12 inch wide belt around you and make is as tight as you can and leave it there for the entire day. How ya’ breathing?

    - Shots: Fill one of our spare needles with saline solution, saline won’t hurt you, we would love something worse but don’t want to end up in jail. Give yourself a shot everytime we do our shot.

    - Side Effects From the Shot: Bang you head against a wall, wrap yourself in a heating pad, wrap your entire body with an ace bandage tightly then finally treat yourself to some spoiled food or drink.

    - Trouble Lifting Arms: Apply 20 LB wrist weights and try and reach for something on the highest shelf in your house.

    - Spasticity: Hook bungee cords to your rear belt loops and rear pant leg cuffs then for your arms hook bungee cords to your shirt collar and cuffs on shirt sleeves then go dancing.

    - Poor Hearing/Buzzing in Ears: Put a bee in each ear and then put a plug in each one…Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    - Balance and Walking Problems: Drink 100 proof grain alcohol and then sit and spin in an office chair for 30 minutes, now get up and see what happens.

    Urgently Needing to Pee: We put a .5 liter remote controlled water bag and drip tube in your pants, we point out 2 restrooms in a crowded mall, then we tell you that you have 30 seconds before we activate the water bag (by remote control) to get to a restroom. Just for spite we may make that 20 seconds without telling you.

    - Bizarre and Inexplicable Sensations: Place tiny spiders on your legs or arms and allow them to periodically crawl around throughout the day, heck all day would be good too.

    - Pins and Needles: Stab yourself repeatedly with needles all over your body or better yet….Get a very large tattoo in your most sensative area.

    - Dizziness (Vertigo): Get on a gently rocking boat all day and all night and take several walks around the deck with your eyes closed.

    - Fatigue: Stay awake for two full days to induce incredible fatigue and then cook dinner, clean the house, walk the dog and see how you feel. Please do not compare MS fatigue to you being tired from only a few hours of sleep – it’s not the same at all.

    - Cognitive Function (Brain Fog): Take a liberal dose of sleeping pills but stay awake. Try and function properly and think clearly. To make it even more real without killing yourself of course, take the sleeping pills with a small sip of wine.

    - Bowel Problems: Take a 4 day dose of an anti-diarrhea medicine followed directly by a 3 day dose of stool softeners for a minimum of 3 weeks, at the end of 3 weeks sit down on a hard uncushioned chair and stay there till tears appeared.

    - Burning Feeling: Make a full pot of boiling water and then have someone fill a squirt gun with the boiling water and shoot it at yourself all day long. However, you can give us the pleasure of shooting you instead…optional of course.

    - Intention Tremor: Hook your body to some type of vibrating machine try and move your legs and arms…..hmmm are you feeling a little shaky? You are not allowed to use anything fun for this lesson.

    - Buzzing Feeling When Bending Our Heads to Our Chest (L’Hermitte’s): Place an electrical wire on your back and run it all the way down to your feet, then pour water on it and plug it in.

    - Vision Problems (Optic Neuritis): Smear vaseline on glasses and then wear them to read the newspaper.

    - Memory Issues: Have someone make a list of items to shop for and when you come back that person adds two things to the list and then they ask why you didn’t get them. When you come back from shopping again they take the list and erase three things and ask why you bought those things.

    - Foot Drop: Wear one swim fin and take about a 1/2 mile walk, nothing else needs to be said for this one, you’ll get it.

    - Depression: Take a trip to the animal shelter everyday and see all the lonely animals with no home. You get attached to one or more of the animals and when you come back the next day you come in while they are putting her/him asleep.

    - Fear: Dream that you have lost complete feeling in your feet and when you wake up wiggle your feet, just so happens they don’t move. Think about this every night wondering whether something on your body won’t work the next day when you wake up.

    - Swallowing: Try swallowing the hottest chili pepper you can find.

    - Heat Intolerance or Feeling Hot When it’s Really Not: You are on a nice vacation to Alaska. It’s 35° outside and 65° inside. Light a fire for the fireplace and then get into it. Once you have reached about 110° tell me how you feel, even a person without MS would feel bad, now add all of the above symptoms

    - welcome to our world.

    Then Finally…

    After subjecting yourself to the items above, let everyone tell you that you are just under a lot of stress, it’s all in your head and that some exercise and counseling is the answer.

    #2
    OMG I love this!

    I'm printing it out for one...and for two sharing it with everyone I know!

    As for the last paragraph you had, I'de like to add that "no miracle diet will cure us and make us 100% feel better, even if our MS is still there"

    Because guess who tried the special diets, exercise and all that... this girl! Guess who still has MS ... this girl! Guess who is in pain every single day with many more symptoms... THIS GIRL! lol

    Thank you for sharing!
    Ashley Ringstaff
    Living with MS since 8/30/10

    Comment


      #3
      This is great!! I read something like this a few years ago that used walking with 1 foot in a rollerblade and 1 foot in a high heel to demonstrate balance issues... especially difficult for men! Thanks for sharing.
      Jen
      RRMS 2005, Copaxone since 2007
      "I hope to be the person my dog thinks I am."

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        #4
        I love this!!

        I want to post this on FB!! Amazing!!
        Melissa Goerke
        [I]DX 7/2/10, Copaxone then Avonex, started Ty 9/13/11, JCV+ ended Ty 9/13, started Gilenya 12/13 Blood Pressure skyrocketed, started Tecifdera 4/5/14 - fatigue beyond bearable and symptoms became worse. Rituximab 8/8/14.....waiting for the miracle. I WANT MY TYSABRI BACK!!!

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          #5
          Thank You

          Printing it out and gonna make copies.

          Took a list similar (a lot less ) to the neuro yesterday.
          My flare just keeps on coming, and getting worse.
          SgrammieD

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            #6
            Saved a copy for printing as wanted...

            Thanks!

            Gomer Sir Falls-a-lot

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              #7
              LOVE THIS!!!

              Comment


                #8
                Love Love Love this!!!

                Comment


                  #9
                  So true. Great foot drop and TN comparisons. That is exactly how mine feel. I'm having my husband read this. He says he gets it, but you dont get MS unless you get MS.

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                    #10
                    OMG.. My previous MS doc told me that it likely wasn't MS related that when i bend my neck to my chest (look down) my foot tingles. I had no idea that others had that.

                    Luckily it gone now, but at least i know its nothing serious next time it kicks in.

                    Thanks for the list.

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                      #11
                      I love this!! Thank you so much for sharing!

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                        #12
                        ~AWESOME~

                        I LOVE THIS!!! I think I will make Christmas Cards with this on them for all the **** that have told me I was just lazy or trying to get out of things!! I especially loved the sarcasm with all the symptoms, it was awesome!
                        Last edited by hunterd; 06-04-2016, 07:52 PM.
                        Selina
                        Know thyself means this, that you get acquainted with what you know, and what you can do.~Menander

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Like everyone else. Loved it. I am also printing multiple copies.

                          Thank you for making me alugh while getting the point across.

                          JudySz

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                            #14
                            I also love this and am going to save it. Many of them rang true on a personal level but, the smear vasoline on glasses then try to read was hands down the best description of this sx I have seen yet!

                            Thanks for sharing!
                            DXd Fragile X premutation ~ 2004
                            DXd RRMS ~ Jan. 2009

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                              #15
                              I wondered why my dh was being exceptionally understanding this am. then he told me he read the copy of this that I had printed. He never knew this is how my ssx feel, although like everyone else, I do not have all of them, he knows the ones I complain about. He said since I only say I am bad today or I really hurt today, he did not know they were this bad. I think he will be even more understandig now.,

                              Thank you for posting.

                              JudySz

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