When you have multiple sclerosis, let assistive devices assist you

Thanks .
I think that feeling that you are giving in or not trying hard enough is one of the worst you can have. And it doesn't help to have friends and family tell you that you don't need a rollator or wheelchair yet. Or when they treat you like you are making it up !
I have never met anyone with MS who didn't do all they were able to do . Using aids is not much different than wearing glasses . If there is something to make your life better .... use it .
Thank you for another great column. I am glad that there is something to make writing your column easier .The aids I use make me feel that I have some control over the situation ... and that I AM trying to the best of my ability.

Currently use a cane, and walker for longer walks (15 minutes or so). Am looking at getting a scooter so I can still enjoy getting out to the mountains (I haven’t been getting out because I get so tired walking). Here’s to enjoying the mountains for years to come.

Great article no matter how you write just keep doing it ,
MS makes us adapt when we are not ready, sometimes that adaptation is frightening the alternative is worse .
Tools for the job to quote you .

Great article. I think the same way you do. I’m toying with getting the voice to typing software. What have you foundto be the best for you. I need it.

From Greece. For the last 8 years I have been using a rollator - walker, since there is not a single step I can take without aid. How very depressing!! Yet, when I have to Cover really longer distances I use an electric scooter which is Super. Furthermore, I renewed my Driving licence and I am about to buy an Automatic, adapted car. I strongly believe that independence is priority number 1, no matter what it takes.

I´m glad you found a plan B for the production of your column as I am a frequent reader. Just a hunch but I would wager that almost all MSers put off using the assistive device, whatever it may be, until the struggle is overwhelming.

A cure for multiple sclerosis would be a dream come true. I was diagnosed over 50 years ago. I pray that you will support MS reaearch and support for the ms community. Thank you Linda VanderVlugt

I cannot thank you enough, I’ve been reading your column for the last few months and I really find your thoughts a comfort when everyone around has no idea! Thank you again and I will listen to allowing tools to help me!

Thank you for the encouragement. Wish my friends would read your columns instead of judging.

This one doesn’t get talked about much: Can using disposable underwear (adult diaper) be an assertive device? There is also development of an electrical device to help control bladder, which I have not ventured into. How many can recall experiencing their first unexpected bladder event out of the house? Had I been wearing a diaper, it would have been no big deal at all. “Adult diaper” is an obvious oxymoron, and a sign of something (for the average person I suppose) that is uncompromisable.
But it does not signal a permanent transition to going to the bathroom uncontrollably in your pants all the time. They are truly something that give you freedom, and the assistance is unseen. You still use the toilet and the “garments” don’t actually get used every time you head out. For me, it’s actually seldom. But not having to worry about that unexpected event was very liberating and so sad it took me so long to become aware of it. And bladder meds? No longer an issue either.
I vote for “adult diapers” as the most life changing assertive device, if you have the courage to try it.

I totally agree, the more we can help ourselves and others (relieving them of some aspects of care) with assistive devices the better life is.We all know people who resist, who need assistive devices for MS or other reasons; they not only risk their own well-being but put more of a load on family and friends because they seem to think assistance is two steps from death. And we all know how little most people want to admit their own and others' mortality. What I am about to write may seem trivial, but I'll go ahead anyway. Must so many of our rollaters, wheelchairs, even canes be so unattractive? (And I am not advocating flor flower decals and other superficial approaches.) Is there no one working on design issues in addition to the mechanics, suspension, etc.? I see people who appear depressed in their chairs, for example. Would they not feel at least a bit better if that chair were beautiful? I managed to find a rollator designed and manufactured in Denmark. I cannot tell you how many people on the street as well as in clinics and hospitals come up to me to ask where I found this stunning number. I tell them, and they are amazed: Most wheelchairs look to me like instruments of torture. This one is sleek and understated, with a comfortable seat, ergonomic hands grips, and it is made of carbon, so much light and durable than other metals (except titanium, which is very expensive). I tell them it comes in three solid colors, including red, which I call Ferrari red. They want to know all the details. (I should be on salary for the company, ByAcre!) Also available are more robust models for people who are able to walk on country paths or beaches. So why don't we see stunning wheelchairs as well?I have a theory. To those who are abled, the notion that people with MS, say, would care about beauty is a non-starter. The anglo-American sensibility cannot take it in. I could go on. Good luck and best wishes to all. PS: I too write (on the enviroment) and feel s fortunate that my work can be done sitting down!

why cant they find already a medicine to stop the disease from advancing!!!! why ????

I would like to know the cost and how you go about getting the text to speech app for like word documents

Yup - tool for tasks Ben, tools for tasks. - and so glad you seem to be listening now that your own wisdom got bounced back at you. No-one questions someone using a rotary hoe to create or dig over a half-acre veggie garden in a back yard, but they sure would question the sanity of someone trying to do the same job with a hand trowel! (do they make a ploughing attachment for the Ben-mobile?)

MS has already messed up my legs so that gardening, and house/ urniture renovating are just memories in my rear-view mirror. Due to having already started messing with my hands, MS has also taken away my plan of returning to re-learning/ playing music in my retirement (so I have a bunch or really good instruments that need re-homing - insert big sad face emoji right here).

Now I'm noticing a further drop in my hand function, and it scares the pants off me that I'm going to lose the last of my "retirement dreams" which still had some life left in it - the creative pursuits of sewing and art. However, I'm a stubborn old cow and have given myself a stern talking-to about starting to think about ways to keep this last dream alive somehow - modify what I do and how I will do it perhaps? Possibly move into different ways of working? Explore different styles maybe - minuscule and detailed has always been my fascination, but the fine motor skills needed for that sort of work have already flown the coop :( :( :(

Sometimes we just need to get over ourselves, and do whatever is needed to keep doing whatever we can. The only thing I ask of ll and sundry is please DON'T EVER call me an inspiration - or I'll find a way to put an overdose of laxatives into your coffee!! :) I'll leave the inspo-porn of people climbing Mt Everest or running marathons to the MS drug marketing people (idiots?) who haven't a clue about what living with MS can really be like. In the meantime, like most of us, I'm just a PwMS doing the best I can with what I've got (left...).