You can most definitely be well even though you have multiple sclerosis (MS). Wellness is all about feeling the best you possibly can — physically, emotionally, and spiritually. You can achieve wellness by paying attention to the whole you and by making sure that you have the following:
Adequate rest
Good stress management strategies
Whatever form of spiritual sustenance you want and need
A healthy diet
The right kind of exercise program
A feeling of balance (and we don’t mean the walking-on-a-tightrope kind) is also important. For instance, a healthy lifestyle includes time for work and recreation, togetherness and solitude, and busy times and couch potato times.
Balance also comes from making sure that MS doesn’t steal the show. A chronic disease like MS can be very greedy, so the goal is for MS to take up no more of your and your family’s time, energy, and resources than it actually requires.
For a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to wellness, take a look at these resources:
The Art of Getting Well: A Five-Step Plan for Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness, by David Spero (Hunter House).
Multiple Sclerosis: A Self-Care Guide to Wellness, second edition, edited by Nancy Holland and June Halper (Demos Medical Publishing).
The National MS Society’s information about healthy living with MS.
Can Do Multiple Sclerosis is a lifestyle empowerment program for people living with MS and their support partners. In-person programs and online resources remind folks that they are more than their MS, help people with all levels of disability to develop personalized exercise programs, and show people with MS and their partners how to enhance their health and wellness while managing the challenges of MS.