Multiple Sclerosis For Dummies

Take charge of your MS and live a full, active life

Need to know more about MS? This friendly, authoritative guidegives you expert advice on making personal treatment choices,managing symptoms, staying healthy, and maximizing your healthinsurance options as well as knowing how to deal withrelapses and complications so you can keep your life on track.

You have MS: now what? understand your diagnosis, get ahandle on your feelings, and get to know the treatment options andhealthcare professionals that can help

Get a game plan develop immediate and long–termstrategies for slowing disease activity, dealing with relapses, andmanaging symptoms

Here′s to your health find out how to take care ofyourself with a balanced diet, the right kind of exercise, restfulsleep, and stress management techniques

Make it personal discover how to manage lifestyle issueswith MS, from keeping the family rhythm going after diagnosis tobuilding and maintaining healthy relationships

Plan for the future get helpful, sensitive advice onfacing scary "what–ifs" and making effective plans for anunpredictable future

Open the book and find:

The latest on medications and treatment options

Tips on managing mood changes, memory problems, bladderchallenges, and more

Possible MS triggers

Ways to keep daily life on track

Considerations for complementary and alternative medicine

The relationship between stress and MS

How to explain MS to others

Planning a family around your MS

Learn to:

Make treatment and lifestyle choices that work for you

Manage fatigue, walking problems, and visual changes

Find stress management strategies that work for you

Talk to your kids about MS

Foreword xxi

Introduction 1

Part I: When MS Becomes Part of Your Life 7

Chapter 1: Meeting MS Face to Face 9

Chapter 2: So, Doc, What Do I Have? Getting a Diagnosis 25

Chapter 3: You Have MS So Now What? 37

Chapter 4: Getting the Right Players on Your Healthcare Team53

Part II: Taking Charge of Your MS 67

Chapter 5: Developing a Plan to Take Charge of Your MS69

Chapter 6: Managing the Disease Course and Treating Relapses77

Chapter 7: Managing Fatigue, Walking Problems, Visual Changes,and Tremor 99

Chapter 8: Handling Problems with Bladder and Bowel Function,Pain, Speech and Swallowing, and Sex 119

Chapter 9: Getting Your Head around Problems with Mood andThinking 141

Chapter 10: Considering Complementary and AlternativeMedicine157

Part III: Staying Healthy and Feeling Well 171

Chapter 11: Paying Attention to Your Health It′s Not Allabout MS 173

Chapter 12: Handling Stress without Giving Up Your Life 185

Chapter 13: Coping with Progressive Forms of MS 197

Part IV: Managing Lifestyle Issues 213

Chapter 14: Presenting Your MS Face to the World 215

Chapter 15: Making MS a Part of the Family 227

Chapter 16: And Baby Makes Three, Four, or More: Planning aFamily around Your MS 247

Chapter 17: Parenting: It Wasn t Easy Before You Had MS!257

Part V: Creating Your Safety Nets 273

Chapter 18: Keeping Your Place in the Workforce 275

Chapter 19: Getting a Grip on Insurance 289

Chapter 20: Planning for a Future with MS 303

Part VI: The Part of Tens 315

Chapter 21: Ten MS Myths Debunked 317

Chapter 22: Ten Questions about Exciting Leads in MS Research321

Chapter 23: Ten Tips for Trouble–Free Travel 325

Glossary 329

Index 343

Rosalind Kalb, Ph.D., Barbara Giesser, MD, and Kathleen Costello, ANP–BC, have over 80 years′ combined professional experience in working with people living with multiple sclerosis. For each of them, MS was, is, and will be their chosen career.