My teeth have always been slightly crooked and rotated and that’s always bothered me. I had an orthodontics consultation when I was in my early 30s, but true to form, I didn’t pursue it. A year after I was diagnosed with MS, I decided to get braces and straighten my teeth. Now that I’m averaging a brain MRI about every 6 months, what could be better than a mouth full of metal? Read the rest of this entry »
January 24, 2012 | 12:01 AM
Reaching a boiling point PART TWO
Hi I am Amanda and this is (the continuation) of my blog 
Now where was I? Oh yes, masking MS. I have another person to tell you about. This person too hides their disease, but is not that good at it anymore. This person in question has loved with MS for a long time and has gone through a lot of changes-and not just ms-related. This person was left without a family, who left for reasons I have not been informed of other then that they had something to do with this person’s MS. Read the rest of this entry »
January 19, 2012 | 12:01 AM
Self-Care
If you’d asked me 4 years ago, how I looked after myself, I don’t think I would have had a clue what you were talking about. As my health (and by extension my life) changed with the diagnosis of MS, I had to start considering how I would deal with the stress of living with an unpredictable, life-altering disease. It was time to develop some self-care strategies.
The term “self-care” refers to activities and practices that we do in order to maintain and enhance our overall health and well-being. It’s small, mindful things you can do to be kinder and gentler to yourself. Read the rest of this entry »
January 17, 2012 | 8:00 AM
Reaching a boiling point
Hi I am Amanda and this is my blog
It goes without saying that life comes with its’ hardships. I will spare you a sob story, but I do want to try to structure this blog in such a way that you can get something out of it and on a level that goes beyond simply being able to relate. So put your thinking caps on-or go to the next blog, no one is forcing you to read this right?
But in order to get to my point I want to tell you a story. Read the rest of this entry »
January 12, 2012 | 12:01 AM
New Research
I am Amanda and this is my blog
I was recently in the news (no big deal 
), but really I am just using being in this story as an excuse to share some very important info. This story was not about me-well any more then it is about any of you living with MS. If you were diagnosed early in life-especially at Sick Kids-you might want to read this, or maybe you saw the news report already. Read the rest of this entry »
January 10, 2012 | 12:01 AM
I Forget…
Not to brag, but I have a good memory. Not necessarily for practical, every day things (where are my keys??), but for names and faces; for places and directions; for stories, movies and trivia; for events; for information about people, I really do have a very good memory.
If I had been given a choice between physical or cognitive problems when I was first diagnosed, I would have chosen the cognitive ones hands down. I was all about hiding my MS and to me, cognitive problems would be easier to hide. I figured that I would just use my cell phone more to keep track of things and that would be that. Read the rest of this entry »
December 20, 2011 | 9:00 AM
California
During my first two relapses I took a pounding. It was one thing on top of another, on top of another, and so on. Unfortunately there was no relief for the symptoms of the first relapse. Medication helped ease some of the discomfort of the second. When the smoke cleared, I was left with a body that I didn’t recognize. For a good eight months or so, it had behaved in a way that I couldn’t predict or control. When everything settled down, I felt like I did before. Everything worked again, like it did before. However, I was unsure of how to act or what to do. I was walking on eggshells around my own body, afraid to set it off again. Read the rest of this entry »
December 15, 2011 | 11:14 AM
My Speech: Part 2
However, as is often the case in life, out of the negative has come some positive. These past few years, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and kindness of family and close friends. That my husband drags himself out of bed at 6 some mornings to help me with my injection before I leave for work, or that my friends work so hard to raise money for the MS Walk on my behalf, tells me that I am loved. I am forever grateful for this.
I’ve also learned to live as we all should, by enjoying today. When I was first diagnosed, the only way I could get out of bed in the morning was to say to myself, “Today, it’s okay”. Two and a half years later, I have taken that a step further. Read the rest of this entry »
December 13, 2011 | 11:09 AM
My Speech – Part 1
I recently had the honour of speaking at the endMS Gala in Toronto. Here is my speech.
I work as an elementary school teacher. For a few years my school participated in the MS Read-A-Thon fundraiser. The Read-A-Thon campaign starts with a kick-off assembly. Volunteers from the MS Society come and explain the disease in a simple way to the students. During one assembly, I remember thinking, “That is a terrible disease.” That there is nothing wrong with your foot, but you can’t move it because your nerves can’t properly relay the message from your brain to your foot; that is terrible. Each year during the event itself, I dutifully encouraged my students to read, felt sad for people with MS and, as we all do with things that don’t affect us directly or indirectly, I put it out of my mind and went on with my life. Fast forward two or three years and I was in the neurologist’s office. Read the rest of this entry »
December 06, 2011 | 9:00 AM
Always Questions
When I was first diagnosed with MS I told few people. Like almost everyone on this site, I told only a certain few; those closest to me. When asked by casual acquaintances why I walked on crutches I gave what I am sure seemed like feeble excuses: leg problems, nerve issues, etc. It took a long time for me to open up and tell people I had MS. I suppose one could argue that I didn’t want people’s pity, or that awkward moment to occur when people just don’t know how to treat you after finding out. I couldn’t stop my parents from telling people though. It seemed like they were telling every Tom, Dick and Harry. That was there way of coping. They needed to talk about it. They needed to be open about it. Read the rest of this entry »