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When a person receives the disheartening diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), it may seem like a long and exhausting journey to darkness. It’s one of those illnesses that you would not wish on anyone. It can bring you down, both literally and figuratively, and apart from the physical deterioration that you may feel, there’s an emotional factor that you have to face.
If you are one of those battling MS, please know that feeling confused, upset, lost, or even numb are all valid. Engaging with exercises for multiple sclerosis in Miami might not be appealing to you on some days, and that is alright. What’s important is that you respect your progress and feelings and not give up.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that significantly affects the central nervous system, mainly the brain and spinal cord. MS happens when your immune system starts attacking your nerve fibers and your myelin sheath, which protects your nerves in the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Recently, experts are also looking at the link of MS to the peripheral nervous system.
If you are suffering from MS, you may notice symptoms such as blurred visions, numbing in some parts of the body, usually in the face, arms, or legs, and on one side of the body, which can go away on its own, tingling in the limbs, even paralysis. Symptoms may also vary from person to person.
There is no cure for MS, but medication and physical rehabilitation therapy can help patients manage the condition and even alter its course.
Over the years, with the advancement in medicine backed up by more research, medicine and recovery options for MS patients have increased.
Back in the day, patients took steroids whenever a severe attack would occur, but only to speed up recovery. There was no option available to lower your chance of developing MS, no known ways to prevent future attacks, avoid disability or paralysis, or reduce its chance of progressing.
Fortunately for patients nowadays, apart from having access to practical exercises for multiple sclerosis in Miami, there are now over 15 FDA-approved medication options to help MS patients. From self-administered shots, pills, and intravenous infusions, there are now more options patients can explore to find what’s best for them, test their efficacy, and identify the side effects and if the patient can work around them. These drug options will still require the MS patient to work closely with a physician to help them identify which one they will respond to best.
Patients living with multiple sclerosis will occasionally wish to achieve remission and perhaps complete recovery. While researchers continue to find more effective ways to manage, prevent, lessen the risk, and perhaps cure MS, many new therapies are being studied to advance MS treatment and potentially aid in the healing of MS patients.
Recently, some researchers have discovered that a ketogenic diet, which has been gaining popularity over the past years, benefits MS patients as it reduces fatigue and depression and improves the patient’s overall quality of life. The ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate, adequate-protein, high-fat dietary therapy that forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. In medicine, it’s mainly used to treat hard to manage epilepsy in children.
In 2015, a study explored neuroplasticity and motor rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis. Its objective is to identify how the rehabilitation of motor function affects the brain’s ability to adapt to MS damage or disability. The study has provided a critical overview of what’s currently known about neuroplasticity and its modulation in MS motor rehabilitation. Perhaps further studies are underway to support their findings and help MS patients in their recovery journey.
Virtual reality (VR) has been gaining popularity in recovery and physical therapy due to its ability to simulate almost any space, presents practically unlimited feedback communication, and provides highly motivating gaming tasks that can make a patient feel less worked up compared to a recovery center. So far, VR recovery programs have also noted a high level of interest from the patients involved.
The lipid, Maresin-1 is being looked at by experts as a critical therapeutic tool for MS, which has the potential to reduce inflammation, which is a side effect of the body’s immune response. Administering this lipid has dramatically reduced the number of cytokines, a protein promoting inflammation. Patients with MS experience dysfunction in one of the body’s mechanisms to resolve inflammation on its own, which can be linked to the episodes of autoimmunity they experience.
Researchers are now exploring manipulating a protective or pro-regenerative part of the immune system to help protect an MS patient’s damaged neurons and stimulate new fiber growth.
Positive progress has been achieved in developing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) medication, albeit it could take more years to find the best formula suited for this condition. So far, three drugs have been recently approved for SPMS that are somewhat effective in a subset of younger people who still have new inflammatory lesions.
While further studies are still underway, one reliable method to be one step ahead of your condition is staying active. Exercises for multiple sclerosis in Miami can help improve your fitness, endurance, and strength in your limbs, arms, and legs and boost your mood. Regular movement can also give you better control of your bladder function and bowel movement and reduce overall fatigue.
To ensure that your exercises are practical and efficient, consult with our activity-based therapists at IAM ABLE Fitness. We will tailor fit a routine that best suits your needs.
You might have those days when you want to stay in bed and cry about it. But, of course, you are also free to skip doing exercises for multiple sclerosis in Miami. But we encourage you not to forget that there will always be hope and that there will always be people rooting for you and supporting you in your journey to recovery.
If you want to learn more about coping with MS, you can download our free guidebook for practical tips for living with multiple sclerosis.
Grab our free e-book 7 Unbelievably Important Steps to Take to THRIVE after Paralysis by clicking the image below.
