Grrrrrrrrrrr

[DexterMorgan]

It kind of reminds me of the interviews of people with MS where they would say that people with MS can achieve literally ANYTHING if they have the willpower to do so.

I mean good for them that they can run a marathon and do all these crazy things while having MS but saying you can achieve anything even if you have MS sends out the wrong message to the public.

Anyway my parents kind of have the same attitude, just do it they say. But they don't understand that just doing it isn't as simple as people make it seem like.

[palmtree]

I was an avid exerciser before my diagnosis. Then, after nearly a year in and out of the hospital, relapses, steroids and a jaw bone infection, I tried to go back to my regular routine and realized it just exhausts me to do exercises and go swimming.

I miss swimming. When I get in the pool it feels so wonderful I want to go every day. Then, by the time I get home that green-purple-blue feeling takes over my body and it's a race to get back in bed.

Also, once we are diagnosed, we are constantly going to doctors. One doctor's appointment wipes me out for 3 days.
Maybe if your hubby knows what other MSers experience he will stop comparing you to these mythical heros.

[J-Bo]

I like what someone said up-thread about that marathoner being able to run because she doesn't have lesions on the part of her brain or spine that tells her legs to move (yet). One simple sentence, and really gets to the essence of what MS is, and what most non-MSers don't understand: it doesn't matter how much you train and work out or how much strength of will you have. If your muscles don't get a signal, they are not going to move. It's like trying to whistle after the dentist shoots you up with Novocain. You can't do it. End of story.

But maybe the reason people are so attracted to these kinds of stories isn't so much that they want to blame us for our own afflictions, but because deep down, it's too terrifying for them to think about not really having any control over stuff like this happening. Maybe it's like wanting mom or dad to spray Monster Repellent in your room before you go to bed. And I guess we all wish it worked that way.

[Tawanda]

Maybe it's like wanting mom or dad to spray Monster Repellent in your room before you go to bed.

Exactly, J-Bo, but is more like MonSter repellent now!

[palmtree]

Exactly, J-Bo, but is more like MonSter repellent now!

That's a good one! LOL

[KSeraSera]

The day I was diagnosed, the local MS Society chapter gave me a magazine with similar articles about marathon runners, mountain climbers, hikers. They left a lasting impression on me, not of what I could do even though I had MS, but on the MS Society who would think I could do that too. For years I felt that I would be viewed as a lazy slob because I wasn't doing what they thought I could do with MS, so I sought no further assistance from them and still think they are really out of touch. I finally decided to stop beating myself up over the fact that I wasn't trying hard enough when I realized, "hey, I was never going to run a marathon, or climb a mountain or hike Yellowstone even if I didn't have MS"! Now, if I can get my house cleaned in under a week, I think I've done just fine.

The ads for the disease modifying drugs also showed people smiling and standing on top of mountains, gardening in the sun, jogging...all the things most hope they could do. Don't trust them either, it is like saying if you take their drug, you'll be even better than before you were sick. How ridiculous.

Tell your dear hubby that you'll put 20 pound weights on his legs and arms, keep him up for 48 hours, spin him around 100 times and then thrust him into a group of marathon runners and he can then tell you how far he got. Because for many of us, this is exactly how our bodies feel, and I can't imagine 26 miles like that.