Have you told your neuro about the bad attitude? It can be a sign of depression. And, yes, MS has a lovely way of affecting approximately 50% of us. If you are already on anti-depressants, think about changing your regimen and don't forget to do the 'talk therapy' along with the prescription drugs.

This is very probably also tied with grief over your worsening condition. This is also where talking can help. You might want to check in with a grief counselor.

If you are having cognitive difficulties you might try one of the 'brain-training' sites. It may or may not help. I sincerely believe in brain plasticity, where, up to a point, the neurons can be 'trained' to use different pathways.

Last, but not least. Forgive your body for betraying you. Forgiveness will help immensely.

We're all with you here...

Good morning – Thanks for the comments. I am working with a good neurologist and I am on a moderate dose of an anti-depressant. The suggestion about modifying this treatment is a good idea and I will bring it up in my next appointment.

In fact that suggestion opens up Pandora’ box concerning drug interactions. I am taking 13 different prescription drugs that are prescribed by different doctors and I wondered if there were any potentially dangerous drug interactions. I talked to my pharmacist and she identified a number of potential drug interactions and found one really serious drug interactions. I also found that one or two drugs caused insomnia and I was taking these drugs just before I was going to bed. I am having sleep problems and these drugs were contributing to that problem, so I am now taking these drugs in the AM.

I also visited several web sites that had really good drug interaction applications and found I had 9 drug interactions. Theses site identified one “contraindicated” or very serious drug interactions. In addition the sites also identified 1 serious, 5 significant, and one minor drug interactions. . These drug interactions were for combinations of drugs that were prescribed by two different doctors. Interestingly, these drugs were provided by the same pharmacy. The pharmacy likes to tell you that they check for drug interactions, but they missed the “contraindicated” drug interactions altogether and nobody told me about other drug interactions. I give all of my doctors a complete list of the current drugs I am taking. The doctors also miss the drug interactions. This is going to make for some interesting conversations with my doctors in the coming weeks.

I am taking Aubagio for MS and Aubagio was involved in four of the significant drug interactions. This appears to be a case of balancing counteracting risk. I do not think there are any reasonable alternatives since I have secondary progressive MS. I was taking Tysabri for a long time, but the risk of PML got to 1 in 80, which both my neurologist and I felt this was unacceptably high. I went on Cotaxone it did not and my problems got worse and I switch to Aubagio. It looks like changes are in the near future. There is more to come on this issue and I will let you know what happens, if there is interest.

This experience tells me I must get actively involved in the treatments for the host of medical problems that inflict me. I have been very active in resolving problems with the insurance company, but I have taken the ostrich approach to my MS treatment by burying my head in the sand and just doing what the doctors say. I do most of what they tell me and feel sorry, angry, and mad that I have to do this.

All of this brings me to a question – Do any of you have a MS Treatment Plan or strategy, if yes, what is it? I am starting to develop my own plan. More to come of this.

Good evening.
Mind mapping is good for those of use how are not liner thinker and have to live in a work of linear document link reports and outlines. The best way to learn about Mindmaping is to use Google and look for software sites. There are a lot of different software companies out there and the one I use is Mindjet. The have a free demo. Also lookup the history of mindmaping and there is a great story there. If we can meet by email I will be happy to share my MS mindmap.

I understand. I don't cope at all really. I just act like its not there until I can't bear the pain or discomfort. I whine to my husband who shows no care whatsoever and then I go on with my life as though everything is ok.

A little bit more--

A Treatment Plan or strategy

Being an engineer who plans everything, the idea of a treatment plan intrigues me. But the question is what is it, how do you use it, and how do you develop it, and how do you use it with your doctors? What is the doctor’s reaction to a treatment plan?

I am a habitual Mind Mapper (mind mapping is a visual outlining tool.) Mind mapping is one of the major tools that I use in my consulting business and it is a tool I used for organizing all kinds of “stuff.” The major exacerbation I had the week of Thanksgiving was a tipping point form me. I develop an extensive mind map outlining all of the issues and problems I had during the major exacerbation I experience the week of Thanksgiving. Completing this mind map had me doing extensive research on the web, (this lead me to this site, which I am glad I found) and using this information to understand what is happening to me. I have found that a number of problems and issues I was having, like a swallowing problem is probably related to MS. The results of the drug interactions that I discovered I have recorded in this mind map. The mind map lead to an 11 page outline that I gave to my neurologist last week and he said he would study it for or next appointment to review the results of a new MRI I am getting. It will be interesting to see what happens.

If other are interested in my mind mapping and the development of my treatment plan, I will post the results.

I am sorry for the length of these post and I hope I have not broken any rules. Your comments have had a major influence on what I have been doing and thank you very much.