May 19, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace The Importance of Connecting with Family “You can’t say that!” Screams erupted over our Zoom chat resulting in infectious laughter. Admittedly, it was rude, too rude to mention, especially considering the unexpectedness of who said it. Fun and laughter are what’s keeping us all going right now.
May 12, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Do You Speak Candidly with Your Partner About Your Diagnosis? I hate needles. Being told I’d need to do injections was the worst news ever, second only to my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Sitting in the neurologist’s office with my husband, Paul, was terrifying. I was 22 and newly diagnosed with…
May 5, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 3 Techniques to Help You Overcome Anxiety and Stress Bookmark this page! Why? Because in this column, I’ll give you three techniques to help manage your anxiety. Anxiety and stress are unhelpful for anyone’s mind or body, particularly with a chronic illness like multiple sclerosis. Feeling anxious or stressed is our brain’s mechanism to prepare the body…
April 28, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace What Will Our ‘New Normal’ Be When the Crisis Is Over? What will the future look like after this coronavirus craziness is over? One thing is certain: The world can’t go back to being “normal.” This time in isolation has raised many issues and broken down so many barriers. Only now do…
April 21, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace MS Patients Face Additional Barriers Due to the Coronavirus Well, this is super weird. Being told to stay home and leave our houses only for food, medication, or exercise is bizarre for those of us in England. It’s starting to take a toll on my mental health. The other day, I stood in line at…
April 14, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace An April Fools’ Joke that Wasn’t Very Funny “I can’t move my head,” I thought. It was 5 a.m. on April 1, and the realization of my full bladder prompted my wakening. But I soon realized I had a more significant issue that only became apparent when I tried to get up and couldn’t. What on…
April 7, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How to Maximize Productivity While Working from Home I’m grateful that I’ve worked from home for a long time. I imagine that, for many people, working from home for the first time is a difficult adjustment. How do you stay focused on work without going stir crazy? …
March 31, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace How to Cope and Thrive During a Challenging Time Living through this unique time is nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. There’s so much doom and gloom around lately. I don’t know about you, but the constant government alerts and updates don’t feel like they’re helping me. It’s enough to drive me insane if I…
March 24, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Tips for Traveling the World from the Comfort of a Couch Following my previous column titled, “5 Free Activities You Can Do at Home During COVID-19 Hibernation,” I thought it would be fun to share some more free things you can do from home. The more I look into this topic, the more material…
March 17, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 5 Free Activities You Can Do at Home During COVID-19 Hibernation I don’t watch or listen to the news, but luckily, fellow Multiple Sclerosis News Today columnist Ed Tobias does. I’ve found that avoiding the news has helped to improve my mental health, because I realized that all the doom and gloom happening…
March 10, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Many MS Symptoms Are Invisible: We Need to Share Our Stories Like many people with multiple sclerosis, my symptoms are mostly invisible. Many days, fatigue overwhelms me and I have pain somewhere. I tingle all over. I have weird sensory symptoms such as the feeling of water…
March 3, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Using Social Media to Challenge Perceptions About Disability I recently interviewed filmmaker Celestine Fraser on my podcast. Fraser produced a documentary about chronic illness called “ill, actually.” We touched on some interesting topics, including how people with chronic illnesses use social media. The documentary interviews three people with…
February 25, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Reflecting on What Makes Me Rare Being diagnosed with a chronic illness isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. It comes with a new medical language to learn, a plethora of lengthy appointments, an impressive amount of blood tests, and a lot of frustration. But does it lead…
February 14, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace A Detailed Description of What to Expect During an MRI Scan An magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan can be an odd experience for those who have never had one before. Knowing what to expect beforehand can calm the nerves, so this week, I’m sharing what my first MRI was like. For people with multiple sclerosis (MS), frequent MRI scans are…
February 11, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 5 Things You Should Do When Traveling with a Chronic Illness Traveling is great! We love traveling, seeing new sights, eating different foods, and experiencing new things. But when you have a chronic illness, traveling can also be a nightmare. New germs, different food hygiene standards, sensory overload, jet lag, and crowds can make it difficult. For some, traveling is hard…
February 4, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace 5 Hacks to Help Manage Your Fatigue One of the most annoying MS symptoms is fatigue. It’s as unpredictable as the British weather and a constant balancing act. On energetic days we tend to do too much, depleting our energy for the next day. Running a business is no…
January 28, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace ‘You Can’t Park There, You Are Not Disabled’ To those who judge me for using my disabled parking permit when I seemingly look “healthy and well,” please consider your words. There are people out there who “call out” others who they think are “abusing the system” and taking up an accessible space when it looks like they don’t…
January 21, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace One Way to Be More Successful in Life with Multiple Sclerosis Have you ever wondered how some people seem to be able to do so much in a day, despite having some type of ailment, while others seem to be unable to do much of anything? This is something I have thought about for a long time.
January 14, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace Dispelling 5 Common Myths About MS “I will have to use a wheelchair.” That was my first thought when I received a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. After I got my ticket to the weirdest whirlwind weekend that I’d never expected to attend — three days in the hospital — the myths that…
January 7, 2020 Columns by Jessie Ace ‘DISabled to ENabled’: How I Lost Control of My Body “My arm feels dead.” Not the worst thing in the world, you would think. But what it meant changed my life forever. I’m Jessie Ace, an English writer from Swadlincote, a town in Derbyshire. I titled my column…
December 10, 2019 Columns by Jessie Ace 5 Things You Should Avoid Saying to Someone with a Chronic Illness After having multiple sclerosis for six years, I’ve decided there are five things “healthy” people might not understand about the disease, and it really drives me crazy. So, I’ve compiled some common misconceptions and advice to help spread awareness among those who aren’t familiar…
December 3, 2019 Columns by Jessie Ace Can My Mind Control My MS Symptoms? Can your mind control your illness? You might think, “No, of course not, the illness will do what it’ll do. I have no control over that.” What if I told you that you might have more control over it than you think? When I…
November 26, 2019 Columns by Jessie Ace From New Hope Emerged an Old Nightmare I was bruised, broken, and in pain. I had been struggling with Rebif (interferon beta-1a) side effects for over a year, ever since my diagnosis. It was the first multiple sclerosis medication doctors put me on, and it did not work…