Living with any type of disease can be difficult and cause challenges in your life, especially if you’re living with Multiple Sclerosis. The impact it has on your life and others can be grand and sometimes may make you feel that there’s nothing you can do, fortunately, there is. Though this fight is a constant battle, there are ways to prepare for the inevitable flare-ups.
What Is Relapse-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis?
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is when the body’s immune system attacks the insulation that protects the nerves (myelin). This can lead to the nerves being damaged as well.
This is the basis of MS and how it starts, but many don’t know that there are multiple forms of multiple sclerosis. One form of multiple sclerosis is relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is when your MS causes relapses or flare-ups. Usually, people will have relapse-remitting MS at the first diagnosis, which can get progressively worse over time.
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When being diagnosed with relapse-remitting, the doctor will ask you a series of questions such as what your symptoms are while also putting you through a series of tests such as MRIs to scan the brain and spine, blood tests and visual evoked potentials.
Your healthcare provider will mostly focus on how your vision is when asking you questions about your symptoms. MS affects your vision and muscles the most.
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4 Remedies To Prevent A Flare-Up
When one has relapse-remitting MS, they have to be aware that there is MS relapse and MS pseudo relapse that may happen.
A pseudo relapse is when you experience old symptoms coming back or old symptoms coming back and starting to worsen. This is usually because you now have an infection. A regular “relapse” is when new symptoms start to form. Sometimes an MRI is needed to tell if you are experiencing a relapse or a pseudo relapse.
With that being said, here are some remedies to help prevent these symptoms from coming back, worsening and or experiencing new symptoms:
- Use lukewarm water instead of hot water. Overheating can cause MS symptoms to come back, so it’s important to make sure you don’t get extremely hot. When bathing, try using lukewarm water.
- Consume more foods with omega-3 fatty acids. Foods containing this type of nutrient usually have the ability to fight off inflammation. This will help lower the risk of symptoms from starting or worsening.
- Go outside and exercise. Both exercising and getting the recommended amounts of vitamin D are important. Vitamin D is known to calm the immune system, which is affected by MS so it’s important to keep the levels high. Exercising will help with fatigue and depression, which are two symptoms of MS and relapse-remitting MS. Going for daily walks could be a big help.
- Keep yourself on a schedule when it comes to your care. It’s important to make sure you stay up to date with your appointments to see your doctors and care team often. Incorporating a planner or digital planner (whichever works best for you) can be extremely helpful.
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Symptoms That Show Your MS Is In Relapse
Granted symptoms may look different for everyone living with MS, however, it’s still important to know what some may look like. If you are experiencing symptoms that you’ve never experienced before, you may be experiencing a relapse.
These can look like numbness in the feet, trouble with your vision, feeling weak and fatigue, constant urge to urinate and trouble with balancing and your coordination.
Other symptoms may be sensitivity to heat and experiencing depression and anxiety. In pseudo relapse, you may experience old symptoms coming back or they may start to worsen.
What To Do In The Moment When Your Body Is Triggered
Once you know how your MS symptoms look, it will help you decide what to do in the moment. If you’re triggered by a symptom, the first thing you want to do is try to sit down if possible, moving around might not be helpful depending on which symptom you're experiencing. For numbness, try elevating your feet.
If you are experiencing weakness and fatigue, try eating something that is healthy and energy boosting. Also, talk to your doctor about what to do in the moment of a flare-up. Since it mostly depends on what symptoms you experience, they’ll be able to better assess the situation and give you the best possible outcome.
