Here's my paper

I posted my paper here because I could not get it to attach in unit 7 discssion so please post comments I truely need the help

Coping with MS
Hope E Woollens
Kaplan University
CM229-12
















Introduction:
Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic illness that changes one's life a lot. First a person has to get a diagnosis, which can take a little time or months, even years, the waiting itself is a horrible thing. I was lucky my family doctor did all the right testing, and made the Neurologist able to give me a certain diagnosis. There was one scarier test in the hospital; a spinal tap was my final step to my new life with MS. I was told that my immune system was eating the myelin sheath, which is the coating on the nerves in my brain. Like I knew what that meant. It still was a diagnosis. I was very lucky. People however say the waiting can be so long, you end up with anxiety, and depression running your life along with the symptoms of MS. Symptoms can be vision changes to total loss of vision, numbness that feels like you foot is asleep that never wakes up, and can be quite painful, problems walking properly, another words you can eat a lot of carpet, and kiss a lot of walls trying to walk. The quality of your life changes in ways you never thought possible. The chance that all these changes can cause you to possibly lose your job or leave your job, “as it was in my case.” This shows how MS cause financial troubles. The ugliness of MS can also cause bladder and bowl problems. Changes in personality which friends and family don't understand that we do not have control of these changes. Overall learning to live with MS is like starting your life over. Learning how to adjust your life to compensate for your new friend MS. MS changes people's lives in ways they never thought possible. Multiple Sclerosis causes changes in quality of life, cognitive problems, fatigue, challenges with family and friends, and loss of a steady income.
Making MS a friend in each of these areas will help a person cope with the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.
Living with your Quality of Life being changed forever is something that takes a lot of hard work. From day to day one has no idea how you will feel when you get out of bed. You may wake up feeling fine, or you will feel like MS has reiuned your life. When you start to realize that MS has taken control of your life, it is time to take steps to try and get your life back to what it was before MS, or at least as close to that as possible. There have been studies done that show people with MS have issues with quality of life changes, fatigue, mood changes. (Dalgas et al., 2009) Exercise is something that I have found works for me. I use swimming to improve my balance. I take a class once a week for 45 minutes. Swimming is a great way to exercise in water you do not put stress on your body the same way that you would on land. I also walk, walking helps improve my balance, and the fatigue that I have seems to improve with walking. Exercise seems to help with a lot of my MS symptoms. It helps many of my symptoms, fatigue lessens, balance improves, and most importantly it gets me out of my home and around other people which helps with depression and moods. In my opinion exercise is vital to keeping my life balanced and more structured. Without exercise my quality of life would be really, really bad and I would not be as healthy as I am, with the ability to do things that otherwise I would not be able to do. There are many studies on exercise and how its effects on people with MS. One study was based on Progressive Resistance Training (PRT) (Moris2009). This study worked on improving the muscular strength, and functional capacity. The study was over a 12 week period using a Randomized controlled trial (RCT). During the study improvement was noted in knee flexors, and extensors, walking performance, and stair climbing were all improved after PRT was implemented over the 12 week period. There was also a hypothesis tested that MS patients after leg strength and function improved with PRT showed some improvement with fatigue, moods, and quality of life (QoL).Cognitive function is the ability to remember and process things in the brain, like remembering how to do something like a math problem, or remembering how something works, where the car is parked. This is a really bad issue that arises with the diagnosis of MS. Remembering how or where you are can pop up without notice. Cognitive changes vary a lot from person to person. Cognitive issues can cause a person with MS to stress over forgetting something. This stress can also take all of a person with MS energy. Then you have those patients who have no symptoms at all. It is important to acknowledge cognitive changes as soon as they appear. This way patients can find and develop strategies to help remember and manage the issue. Staying proactive by getting organized will help to minimize the effects of cognitive changes.(MS Active Source, vol 2.,2010) How to handle cognitive changes is something that is very individualized, what works for one person may not work for another. Making list, putting a calendar up, writing down important dates on the calendar. This is a couple ways to help a person with MS deal with the changes relating to cognitive changes. Myself I have had to stop working due to cognitive changes. I was unable to keep my focus on my job, which involved very important financial numbers for the bank I worked for. I also was not able to deal with the stress that this caused me. I would beat myself up about what I forgot at work at night when I came home each night. I would lose my car in parking lots until I made a change or let’s say realized I could not remember. I know park in the same spot or same area always when I park. I also get to the grocery store and if I have not writing a list of what I need I might as well turn around and go home or I will spend money on things I don’t need. Now this leads to how MS leads to changes in the amount of Income. MS can cause a person to retire prematurely. (Rodriquez, 2000) This leads to a person with MS and their families, if they have one learning that financially things are going to be different. The reason for financial problems with MS can cause a person to have to leave the professional world. The disease is so unpredictable people may choose to retire early usually many years before they should. Once this happens income usually drops and expensive go up due to medical bills, medication. I was fortunate to have worked for a company for 19 years and had long term disability insurance. The insurance cost me a few dollars each month, but it gives me a guarantee of 66 1/3% of my pay at the time I left. What that is that after social security disability (SSDI) is achieved and approved I will receive 66 1/3% of my pay even if SSDI is below that the insurance company will make up the difference. I also had private insurance through my husband’s company from 2005 when I left work until 2009 after his death. Now I live on SSDI and have Medicare for health insurance. This is good and bad I have to pay a monthly premium for Medicare, I also pay out a lot of money monthly for medications. With the loss of my husband my then 17 year old son chose to not be part of my life, as he did not and does not understand the changes in my personality from the MS. I actually am grateful that I had extended family that was willing to take because there was no way financially I could have cared for him properly. MS has taken some really important parts of my life away. The financial problems are great I do not know month to month if I will have enough money to pay my bills. I also worry each month how I am going to pay for my medications each month due to what is called the gap in Medicare coverage. Now my payments are greater and because of that I have had to stop certain medications due to their cost.
Conclusion:
It is a lonely life living with MS because you lose touch with your family and friend due to personality changes. You are unable to go out socially because you don’t have the money. There are so many reasons why MS is very hard to live with. Having MS changes your entire life in ways you never thought possible. You have to learn how to make MS your friend. You are starting your life over in a lot of ways learning how to stay as healthy as possible. Learning new skills to help you cope with the cognitive changes by making lists, parking in the same spot at the store. Teaching your family and friends about all of the changes MS causes. That way hopefully they will help you with the quality of life, cognitive changes, and being supportive when it is time to stop working which lowers our income. Though it is hard to learn to cope with MS it can be done I am living proof of that. I have MS but MS does not have me.


















References

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