What it feels like living with MS

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I have been asked many times what it feels like to live with MS. I

find it especially hard when people say " but you don't look sick "

or " you look fine to me " .

I was sent the attached by a friend who had MS. It has helped me to

explain to my loved ones what it is like to have MS. I do have good

days but I also do have my horrible days...I hope you can use this to

help others to understand...

If you're like me, sometimes it's hard to explain to

people what different MS symptoms feel like. Below is

a great list that I had e-mailed to me that makes it a

bit easier to explain it to people.

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.