Month: March 2021

For years after my MS diagnosis, I tried to prioritize physical activity, but having a chronic disease, finishing grad school and planning my wedding made it impossible to maintain an active lifestyle. It all added up and I gained 40 pounds. I was sad and disappointed in myself and the state of my health.

Then came my actual wedding day – I was the heaviest I had ever been in my life. I remember looking at the scale that day and thinking, “Well, everyone tries to look the best ever on their wedding day, and here I am doing the opposite.” After the wedding, I continued to feel terrible physically and mentally.  I just wanted to get back to feeling healthy and happy like how I did prior to gaining weight. 

At the time, a friend had a small fitness studio that held cycling, strength training and yoga classes. I found a class I liked – a calisthenics style strength training class that used your own bodyweight and incorporated exercises I had never seen before. I loved how it challenged my brain in addition to my body. Taking those classes taught me to connect with and love my body in a way I hadn’t before. Over time, I lost the 40 pounds and my mood, sleep, and diet improved too.

The biggest surprise through the entire fitness journey, was experiencing the mental health benefits of being active – I was WAY less stressed and more focused now. I became stronger and more confident in myself, which was beneficial outside of the gym too. 

Now, I am all about finding little ways to add movement to my life. That being said, MS can cause muscle spasms, tremors, numbness, weakness, fatigue, coordination problems, dizziness, depression and more. These problems can occur periodically or be chronic. Between that and life in general, it is challenging to stay active at times. But, there are a few things I have found to be helpful in maintaining an active lifestyle:

It’s not all or nothing. If I sit in front of a computer and work all day and night when I had planned to be more active, I don’t feel guilty or give up completely. I move on and try again the next day. I meet myself where I am that day and adjust accordingly. On the days I have the energy I will park farther away or take the stairs or do a more challenging workout. If I am exhausted, I rest. I’m my own hype girl daily. Sometimes that means I am saying, “YESSSS Sam, feeling good today, let’s do a workout!” Other times it means I am saying, “YESSS Sam, you are doing a great job sitting on the couch and recharging!” Basically, I affirm myself, which helps me feel good with whatever choices I made that day. I’m grateful for whatever I can get. MS DOES affect my life daily. I’ve experienced enough relapses to know the ability to be active can be taken away in an instant. Even if it is a small win like being able to walk to get the mail, I celebrate and am grateful for it! I have fun doing it. If I am going to expend energy on it, it’s going to be fun! I garden, I lift weights, I take walks b/c that’s what works for me. But the options for activities to get moving are literally endless! 

Whether it’s 5 minutes or 50, adding movement to your day may be just the mental break or stress reliever you are looking for. And, now that it is (very slowly) getting warmer out, take it outside and enjoy the sunshine and higher temps. 🙂 

The initial relapse that spurred the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis took away my vision, coordination, strength, and ability to feel sensations in an instant, but it took 7 months to recover from. Even then, my baseline wasn’t the same as my 20 year old peers. For years I tried to keep up with them by ignoring my body despite the fact that it was screaming for me to chill.  I didn’t prioritize sleep, eat well, exercise or minimize stress. It became a problem – I was running myself into the ground. Then, came a night that shifted something in me. 

My then boyfriend (now husband) and I had moved to North Carolina so he could continue onto Pharmacy school. One evening, we were at a bar with his friends from school. It was only 11 pm, but I was completely fatigued. Again. Everyone else was full of energy and having fun, but as usual I was the odd person out longing to go home. 

I always *tried* to not be bothered by having to cut the night short. But, all of those times finally added up and a wave of emotion hit me once I got home. I was sad I was different. I was angry that MS was changing my physical capabilities. I was sick and tired of fighting my body. I couldn’t do it anymore. I ugly cried for a while. 

I decided I wanted to make a change and began to slowly figure out what to do. To start, I accepted what I could physically accomplish would always vary from others. And that is okay. 

Second, I chose to ask myself “How will this make my body feel?” before I made any decision on something that would impact me physically. To avoid getting overwhelmed, I started small and would ask that question before committing to any social activities. Those events always took the most out of me and I needed to find a balance that was sustainable. If the answer was ‘this will make me fatigued for 2 days after which will make me miserable and impact my ability to do other obligations’ (or some variation of that), I said no. I only had to say no a few times to learn that accepting my body and listening to what it could do was the answer to my problems. 

That was years ago, but the payoff was so great that I continued to listen to my body in other areas of my life. I ate to feel good in the long run, not just satisfied in the moment. I found what types of workouts left me feeling stronger vs. worn down. I figured out that I needed to sleep at least 8 hours every night. And the list goes on and on.

By observing how my body reacted to different things, accepting and listening to it, I was able to shift my life in such a positive way. It felt like a weight had been lifted. Instead of constantly being at war with my body, I was thriving physically and mentally. Now, I’m thankful that MS forced me to tune in with myself. 

That being said, chronic disease or not, everyone could benefit from putting themselves first and listening to their body a little more throughout the day. Start small, tune in to the times it feels like your body is fighting you and figure out what you could do to make it better. Life is way more enjoyable when you aren’t fighting your own body to get through it.