It’s not green anymore

There’s always failed attempts at trying to solve a chronic disease. MS has no known cause or cure therefore currently I will try anything that sounds logical to me. I became a vegetarian because I thought it was a healthier choice especially for MS. And recently I went in a totally opposite direction (MS Journey #19).

I was diagnosed in 1997 and shortly thereafter I read a book by Dr. Swank and Barbara Brewer about diet and MS. And if I’m remembering it correctly one of the first recommendations was to stop eating meat for one year – I quit for almost twenty years. The book opened my eyes about how food can play a role in the development of MS. However I believe there are many other contributing factors to getting MS; environment, stress, pre disposition, blood issues, gut bacteria, DNA, it goes on and on.

No diet that I’m aware of cures MS. Fatalistically that’s what I really want – it’s a major flaw in my thinking.

My journey with MS over these last 25 years could be considered somewhat a fortunate one as some symptoms have remitted, some have stayed for the duration, and lately some are getting worse, but I’m still on my feet. I’ve changed many things throughout this journey to help me along this road and the two biggest were the reduction of stress and change in diet.

It was a smart thing for me to buy life and disability insurance when I was younger. This allowed me to stop working and still financially contribute to my family. Stress was a major byproduct of my job which I believe forced the onset of MS. I’m not blaming it on my job I liked my job but it was high stress most days and it was constant.

So lately I tried a different diet one that is Paleo inspired with large amounts of fruit, vegetables, meat, and animal organs. I stayed on this diet for about seven weeks. My daughter rolled her eyes and smiled when I told her that. Giving me the impression that I did not give it enough time. It’s a difficult diet to maintain but I did it until I determined there were no improvements, in fact I started to get worse and that’s the key factor in why I stopped.

In my view food should be nutritious but also enjoyed. I try to combine those two aspects in my cooking. This diet, in my opinion, met only one of those conditions. And if I felt that I were reaping some benefits from this diet I would have put up with this one sided effort. But that’s not what happened to me. I have no doubt that this diet helps people with MS as the many affirmations in Wahl’s book account.

Throughout my course of MS; diet has always been important to me and as I learned more about food I changed my diet – it’s constantly evolving. I think that is partially why 25 years down the road I’m still ambulatory.

But the ability to stay on my feet is getting more difficult. It’s worrisome and I wish there was a way to reverse this trend. There are worse things that could happen but for me this represents the worst thing that can happen – not being able to walk.

It’s interesting that I would even bring this up as I try to present a positive slant on this journey and this is not a positive development. If I ignore it’s not going away and it is not really a development it’s been happening for a while. It just seems to be accelerating lately.

The problem is there is no where to turn. It is attacking my body and nothing I do can stop it. Not medication, not diet, not yoga, and not positive thoughts. But this combination has proven a more palatable journey – pun intended, and this has slowed the inevitable.

We are all different and we absorb MS at an individual and unique rate. I’ve done and am doing what I can do to reduce or slow its progress but I’ve never expected to beat it. That day will come when someone figures it out. But until then I will continue to make changes in anything I can to stay on my feet.

So I’ve returned to my regular meatless diet.

But I hope this revelation, not being able to beat it, does not impact your outlook on the possibilities and the power of positive thoughts and or the incredible impact of yoga. I’m an example of both. If you defeat yourself mentally it won’t take long for the physical part to follow.

Remain positive, it’s one thing you’re in complete control of.

Be safe