January 5, 2021 Columns by Jessie Ace I’m Setting New Year’s Goals, Not Making Resolutions How do you feel at the start of a new year? I love it, because I enjoy defining my intentions and setting my goals for the coming days. Everything seems fresh and new, and the possibilities are endless. I make a point to avoid New Year’s resolutions, though.
December 22, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How Much Energy Do You Spend Making Yourself Presentable? “She smelled amazing!” I commented to my oblivious husband as we walked our muddy dog back home after our daily walk. “Did you smell that lady as she walked past us?” Unfortunately, the lady was too far gone for me to awkwardly run up and ask…
December 15, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Can Taking a Break From Tech Reduce My Fatigue? What would happen if you switched off all of your devices for a day? Phones, tablets, laptops, TVs — all of them switched off. Could you do it? How would it feel? What would you do instead? My…
December 8, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Disclosing Your Diagnosis: Is There a Right Way to Do It? For many of us, odd symptoms and strange feelings may fill our lives for years before we are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Others may be diagnosed more quickly, which flips our world overnight. I was diagnosed in three…
December 1, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How Is Your MS Affected by Temperature Sensitivity? “I’m too hot!” My brain was turning to mush as my body seemed to grow heavier. I could feel the energy draining out of me. This isn’t an uncommon complaint when the weather grows hotter during the summer. Most people…
November 24, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How Lucy the Dog Changed My Life A pet is the most loyal companion a person can have. I’m currently sitting in my dad’s home office and typing away on my laptop. It’s nice to have a change of scenery. I brought my tiny dog, Lucy, with me as usual.
November 17, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How to Survive the End of the Year When You Have MS The end of the year is incredibly difficult. We already have to put up with more than others because of our MS. In addition to that, the weather changes, the clocks turn back, and there is less sunlight, meaning vitamin…
November 10, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Brain Fog and Changing Clocks Annually, I’m frustrated by the changing of our clocks due to the end of daylight saving time. It seems so straightforward: Time either goes backward or forward by an hour. That’s it. It doesn’t seem so challenging to comprehend. Or does it?…
November 3, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 6 Types of Fatigue and How They Might Affect Us Did you know that there are various types of fatigue, and each makes us feel slightly different than the others? A long while ago, I was at an MS seminar listening to a nurse talk about fatigue. She…
October 27, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Managing Feelings of Uncertainty It doesn’t take much for us to feel uncertain. It could be the result of a new symptom or doing something you’ve never before done, such as attending a telehealth appointment. Maybe the election causes you uncertainty. Perhaps current events or new…
October 20, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Finding Support in an Online Community Finding an understanding community makes such a difference to people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Our partners, families, children, and friends do their best to listen and empathize, but at the end of the day, they can only empathize so much. Unless they have an illness…
October 13, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How to Make Subcutaneous Injections Less Painful When I was first diagnosed with MS, I didn’t have a choice about what disease-modifying therapy (DMT) I could take. My neurologist held up his hand and pointed one by one to each finger, with each…
October 6, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace What No One Tells You After a Diagnosis A multiple sclerosis diagnosis is hard to process. Our body that we once knew so well suddenly feels untrustworthy. The truth is that the malfunctioning of our body is a traumatic event. We never expected it to do these things. We are…
September 29, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Internal Conflict Could Be Affecting Your Symptoms “I’m just lazy,” I told myself. “Why can’t I do the things I need to do? I’m so exhausted and in pain all the time, I just want to sleep. Are my MS symptoms getting worse?” My body was driving…
September 22, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Why You Need to Be Tracking Your Symptoms for Your Medical Team Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable disease that can fluctuate at any time. It’s difficult to predict something that behaves so unexpectedly, but one thing you can do to feel in control is track your symptoms. Because brain fog and…
September 15, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace The Surprising Reasons You Might Be Bloated Many people with multiple sclerosis (MS) struggle with intestinal issues. There is evidence of the link between gut health and MS. Bloating is a common result of these issues. It’s super annoying and always…
September 8, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 5 Surprising Ways to Stay Cool Without an Air Conditioner People outside the U.K. might not understand this column, but that’s OK. Not long ago, we had an entire week with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) in most parts of the country. We don’t have air conditioning here in the U.K., because normally it is hot only…
September 1, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace What Does ‘ENabled Warrior’ Mean to You? After I received my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, my nurse handed me a leaflet explaining how to tell those at my workplace I’m “DISabled,” and what that means, and another leaflet explaining how to claim DISability benefits. The thing is,…
August 25, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How Much Caffeine Are You Consuming? Your alarm sounds at 7 a.m. You grunt, smash the snooze button, and turn over. Ten minutes later, your alarm sounds again. You smash snooze. And repeat another five times. Eventually, you reach for your phone with a…
August 18, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace A Simple Hack to Access Better Treatment by Doctors “What was the date of your last relapse?” the neurologist asked while peering over her glasses at me. I stared back blankly and then shrugged with a sheepish smile. I knew the year but couldn’t remember the exact date because it was seven years ago!…
August 4, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 3 Ways People Respond to Your MS Diagnosis — and 3 Alternatives After you get a new diagnosis and are coming to terms with a new way of life, the next part is especially tricky. You have to tell others. “Urgh. I don’t want to tell anyone! Why do I have to?” I’ve had this conversation with myself more than once.
July 28, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Managing Expectations on Your Wedding Day Rose petal confetti — made from the roses my dad had given me a few days before — rained down as the people I cared about most in the world cheered. “Congratulations!” came from all around as family and friends pulled me in for a hug. My legs,…
July 21, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace ‘You Look OK to Me’ “You look OK to me.” He stood, towering over me, his big belly billowing from his shirt as he straightened up and lifted his chin, glaring down at me over folded arms. I swallowed. Anxiety rushed through me. What am I going to do? I was desperate…
July 14, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Do You Wish You Could Return to the ‘Old’ You? I saw this question asked in a group somewhere not long ago and it got me thinking. Would I go back to the way I was before my multiple sclerosis diagnosis? No, I wouldn’t. That may sound strange, I…
June 30, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 3 Things to Do If You’re Freaked Out by Blood Tests Note: This column was updated July 23, 2020, to remove erroneous information about red blood cells. We regret the error. When I was newly diagnosed seven years ago, one of the hardest things to deal with was the idea of having…
June 23, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Being Free from Symptom Flares Makes Me Feel Like a Fraud I’m a fraud. Or at least I feel like one. When writing for a site about multiple sclerosis and setting up a business focused on my diagnosis to help others in the same boat, it is a requirement that I…
June 16, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Advice for helping a loved one through an MS diagnosis Last updated April 25, 2023 In June, the U.K. marks Carers Week, which got me thinking about how a chronic illness diagnosis often affects a patient’s entire family. Most often, patients are the focus of a diagnosis, and the people around them are almost forgotten. The…
June 9, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How to Go on Holiday Without Leaving Your House Who wants to go on holiday?! I know, I know, we can’t physically go anywhere right now, but what if I told you that you could go anywhere you wanted while staying at home? Stay with me! It’s been really sunny and blindingly hot in the U.K.
June 2, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Starting a Podcast: How I Fought Past Mental Barriers to Help Others You’re chronically ill, super anxious, crazy shy, unconfident, and have no interviewing skills. To some, that recipe may sound like a terrible concoction to start a podcast. However, for me, I knew it was something I had to do. I had to share…
May 26, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace We Are What We Tell Ourselves There’s something we need to address, right here, right now. Not all of you will like it or agree with what I’m about to say, and that’s OK. I need to get this off my chest, so here it goes. I hear so many people with…