3 WAYS TO FIGHT MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Over the last eleven years, I’ve had a lot of people contact me asking all kinds of questions about Multiple Sclerosis. I’ve had parents, cousins, siblings, friends of MS patients and patients themselves, getting in touch, primarily as they have came across my story of recovery and can clearly see I am winning my MS war.
When I wrote my first book in 2012, it was a major source of healing for me, and in actual fact the book flew out of me, completing the project in under twelve weeks. At that time I was six years living with MS and only two years into my recovery, so all kinds of emotions and feelings where literally running through my veins.
Whenever I appeared on the LateLate show, in January 2013, the reaction to my story was overwhelming and it was then I knew I really could help people deal with MS, and start to get their life back.
Over the last five years in particular I’ve met with, engaged with, spoken to, and connected with thousands of people about this topic and now through my website and my books etc. I’ve been able to reach a global audience. It’s now a very important part of who I am, as I continue in my search to get my own body back to full health, and then share information with others that might help them do the same, and go one further…. Start to realise their own potential in life, despite the adversity they face.
So today I’m going to share with you 3 ways of how I recommend you start to fight your MS. I am certain if you do all of the below, you, your mind and your body will certainly be in a much better place. It’s important to remember MS is a lifestyle disease that means once you are diagnosed, you must change your lifestyle if you want to manage it properly, or be like me and reverse it. This will allow your body to heal and possibly gain back most if not all of its functions.
No 1
Become a student of condition
It is vital upon diagnosis that you now become a student of the condition. This means that you take it upon yourself to find out as much about MS as you can. This will include speaking to your GP, your neurologist, your MS nurse, fellow patients, reading books on MS, going online and sourcing good trusted sources of information. It is also hugely important that you track down and find people like me, who have been able to live very well with the condition over a long period of time. Study these kinds of people, look at their lifestyles, what they are eating, are they exercising, anything you can find out about them. The clues will be there for you to consider and work out why they might be doing very well. This is number one on my list as it’s the most important step you need to embrace if you want to win the war against your MS.
No 2
Change your diet
There is now a lot of science out there that proves the role diet can play not just in the progression of your MS but overall health. One of the most depressing parts of living with MS is that it’s very difficult to get to the truth and get the right advice about how to tackle the condition. I have a personal view on why this might be the case, but that’s a different blog.
Dr. Swank carried out research many years ago and was able to prove that those MS patients that restricted their intake of saturated fat to less than 15mg a day tended to have better outcomes. I’ve done quite about of work in the whole area of nutrition, and for me I now work with a plant based diet. I cut out dairy a few years ago, and two years this April I will have stopped all kinds of animal foods from passing my lips. This has meant that I now only fuel on foods that are high on minerals, nutrients and vitamins. The rationale for this is that I was able to find out through my research that in order for all of us to feel good and be healthy, we had to eat food that were complimentary to brain health. Foods that ensured our mitochondria would be in fine fettle. The mitochondria are the engine that is present in every single cell of our bodies. There are literally over five billion cells in our bodies and when they all die, we die. The trick being to keep the mitochondria’s in great health and one of the best ways to achieve this is through a diet high in fruit and vegetables. It’s that simple. Off course most people don’t have the discipline or the application to do this, but let me ask you three questions.
1. How important is your health to you?
2. Do you want your MS to progress?
3. Would you like to feel better and reverse your condition and go onto realise your potential?
You will be able to answer the above for yourself, but I like to keep this as simple as possible, and I am telling you that once you invest in the science like I have over the last eleven years, there only is one real conclusion round how you as a MS patient should be fuelling. I will leave it up to you to work it out. You have to put in the work yourself if you want to reach a level of understanding that will allow you to fight the MS as best you can. I suggest you start right now…
No 3
Exercise
The first few years post my own diagnosis I did very little exercise. The truth being I was still in shock, was suffering from depression, my body was closing up due to the daily anxiety, panic attacks and pain of living with the illness. In actual fact I was in a period where a lot of MS patients find themselves… I had given into the disease. It was only around 2009, four years into living with MS that I started to work out I needed to fight this thing or ultimately it was going to kill me. That’s when I started to exercise again, a few times a week. This was very difficult at that time, as my daily symptoms including pain all over my body, balance problems and panic attacks. However I knew I had to take this action if I wanted to get better, and slowly but surely as I continued with my exercise regime, my body and my mind started to get stronger, and stronger and stronger.
Over the last eleven years I cannot stress highly enough how important I believe exercise has played in my recovery. My experience is not isolated as I am now in touch with people all around the world who have had similar experiences. There is now plenty of science available to prove exercise can help your body recover. Clearly you need to speak with your physio, your GP or even your personal trainer if you have one, and take it very easy and build up over time. However exercise is at the heart of my recovery plan, and I encourage you that no matter how bad you maybe feeling, you bring some form of exercise into your own daily routine.
The great news is, I now know that MS is a condition that can be well and truly managed. I am living this day in and day out. It’s important in life to have hope, and I am hoping that this piece and my other work in this regard can give those that need it, some hope in life and prove that despite a MS diagnosis, you can still have an incredible life.
The one point I would like to make regarding my own ongoing recovery is that I work extremely hard to stay as healthy as I can. I’m pretty much obsessed with my health and this gives me the discipline to carry out the daily actions I know I need to do to keep the MS under control. The way I see it is I have no other choice. I see too many people in life across the spectrum be it trying to deal with an illness, a relationship or even in business – they just won’t put in the hard yards. In life you get out of what you put into it. You don’t put in the work, they you have to accept mediocrity, illness, fail at business, relationships and so on.
I hope this piece has added some value to your weekend. If it has, please let me know and also share it with anyone you feel needs to read it.
Book Update:
The audio version of my book IRONMIND, AGAINST ALL ODDS, dropped on amazon at the end of January 2018. I’m delighted with this as it’s the fist time I’ve ever produced an audio book. Even better I’ve got my first review on amazon about the audio version - another five stars, so whey hey:) This makes me incredibly proud and also drives me on to continue with my plan. If you have read my book or listened to the audio, please let me know. I would love to hear from you.
Have a great weekend
#IRONMIND
