FUMS

Helping Navigate the Road Ahead with MS

Hey – Welcome back or for the first time.  Glad you stopped by.  I’m instituting a segment on this blog that will highlight “Tips and Tricks for Living Your Best Life with Multiple Sclerosis” – hence, the title!  In this segment, I’ll let you know of any cool gadgets, websites, programs, music, books, videos – whatever – that somehow help in our quest for making our MS’y lives better.

Today, I’m going to give you a tip that I’m instituting right now.  It’s called Mint.com and it’s a FREE budgeting website and App.  I’ll let you know how it goes for me, but I’ve read a bit about it and it looks like it could really help alot.  You can input all of your financial information into it – like your mortgage payment, insurance info., utility bills, savings account (ok, who’s got one of these??), car payment, credit card account, investments – and Mint tracks it all and gives you a visual reference – like a pie chart – to see where your money is.  Oh, and, this is cool, it will categorize your expenses and create a budget for you based on your history.  You can make changes anytime.  The point is – it’s quick, easy, free and very secure.  Here’s a link so you can check out a video about it:  https://www.mint.com/how-it-works.

I’m looking forward to tracking everything -IN ONE PLACE – so I have one username and password to look at all of my accounts – and a budget would be a good thing too!  That’s right, I’m admitting it.  I don’t have one – yet.  This little tool is going to help me streamline.  And isn’t that what it’s all about?  Finding tips and tricks to live your best life – IN SPITE OF MS??

Sure would love to hear any tips and tricks you have.  Drop me a line at Kathy@FUMSnow.com or leave a comment right here on the blog.  I’ll be testing other ideas and bringing them to you right here. So – come back, check in, comment, participate in the community, learn something, share something.  We’re in this together.  Let’s make it the smoothest ride we can.

Thanks for your seemingly limitless support –

Kathy

Special thanks for Digitalart’s kindness allowing FUMSnow.com to use this wonderful image of a compass.  To see more of Digitalart’s images, please visit: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2280

I LOVE my job.  I LOVE the people I work with.  I figured I’d work in this particular position until I retired.  MS had a different plan.  I had to go part time in January.  The stress – both physical and mental – had gotten to be too much for me.  I can’t remember having a more gut-wrenching decision to make.  Even leaving my ex-husband wasn’t this difficult!  But – I was slipping.  The cog fog was definately fogging up my planning and execution abilities.  And I was sooooo tired when I’d get home from work, all I could do was lay in the recliner or go to bed.  Not really fair to my husband and our 2 little girls.  Oh – and there’s that other thing – it was making me feel worse, older, sicker, more MS’y.  So – I talked to my employer and they were nice enough to work it out so I could have a 4 day weekend each week – giving me time to rest up in between my jaunts at work.  I was elated that it had all worked out – until Friday – when I got a bill for an MRI I had recently.  I’m covered by my husband’s health insurance and coincidentally, their coverage had changed.  The MRI’s that used to be fully covered, are now, to my great surprise and dismay, only covered at 80% – and that’s after satisfying the $1000 deductible (per member).  So – I now owe $1051.66 for an MRI that thankfully showed no new lesions – on my neck.  Had I known about the difference in cost, I would have asked that they take a look at my brain while they were at it.  This was ordered by a spine specialist due to pain in my back and neck.  Now I have a whole new type of pain in my neck!!

I’ve written before about the difficulty with healthcare costs – especially here in the U.S.  Thanks to this site, I’ve acquired friends from all over the world (hello world friends!) and the vast majority of them tell me a very different story when it comes to their care and the cost of their care.  They don’t have to apply and wait for – agonizing over the seemingly random decision – patient assistance – because their drugs and their doctor visits, and their MRI’s, hell, even their massages – are COVERED.  WHAT??  That’s right – they’re covered.  And well they should be.  The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not provide healthcare for it’s citizens.  Period.

This disease – any disease – is difficult enough to manage, much less having to navigate through a nonsensical, money-making, politician “influencing” maze like the health insurance industry.  I recently had a conversation with a family member about how this country can continue to ignore what should be a basic human right.  I think, like anything, until the masses push this issue to the forefront of the docket for our legislators, it’s going to take a back seat.  And the masses will not push until either they or their immediate family is personally affected.  Because no one who has been put through this mill could even question the legitimacy of need to restructure this entire healthcare system of ours.  There is no teacher like experience.  Sad but true – until more people feel this on a personal level and rise up to their representative democracy and make their representatives represent their needs and desires, there will be no change.  Oh, plenty of people are feeling this – but unfortunately, they are too busy either caring for themselves or their loved ones through their own private hell to pick up a phone to call their congressman or senator.  We can’t leave it to the weakest among us to work for change and “help themselves” while we sit back and reap the benefits of that change.  It’s not going to happen.  But what can happen is – we can go – up to Capitol Hill in Washington or to our state legislators, and speak for them.  We can go to those political rallies and raise our hands with questions about their stance on healthcare.  We, each one of us, has a duty to ourselves and one another to demand better representation of our views.  I’ve heard too much complaining about those “jokers in Washington” and how so many have made a career of political office.  We put them there.  Our vote is their term limit.  We simply must pay attention and make the change that we feel best reflects this country’s needs.  I happen to think that’s healthcare – that we need to find those people, willing to serve,  that we can put in place to make a change to our healthcare system.  I’m proud of President Obama for making it a priority in his presidency and taking steps toward a better system.  We’re certainly not where we need to be, but we’re much closer than we were when he took office.  I’m heading to Washington next week to speak to some of our legislators about healthcare on behalf of the National MS Society, and to tell them my story.  It’s not real to them – it’s a news story, a blog post, a book.  I’m going to introduce them to a real person with MS.  And I’m going to ask for their help – for all of us.

One of the first questions I posed to the neurologist who had just told me I had Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was if I should be eating differently.  He said just eating a balanced diet – one based on the food pyramid – was sufficient.  ”After all, there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about this disease.”  Seriously dude?  Have you even cracked a medical journal lately?  How about a little thing they call the internet?  I hear it’s catching on and may actually be more than a passing fad.  You should check it out.

There’s a lot of information out there – both scientific and anecdotal – about what contribution nutrition has made to a plethora of diseases and maladies.  I’ll bet you couldn’t find a magazine at the grocery counter right now that doesn’t mention something about nutrition – whether it’s the latest fad diet or a cure for some heinous condition.  Could they be on to something?  I think so.  And mind you, I HATE to admit that.  I don’t want to change my diet.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE chocolate.  Really, anything sweet will do, thank you very much.  And salty – don’t get me started.  How about some nice empty carbs?  My husband (who’s from Pittsburgh) turned me on to carbs on steriods – also known as “Perogies”.  These little treats are mashed potato stuffed pasta.  Other than a side of chocolate, I can’t think of anything more wonderful on a plate.  My tongue does a little  happy dance when I even think about this stuff – just in anticipation.  Sure wish that doctor was right.  Our original pyramid (the one he was referring to) allowed me a lot of stuff that I’ve recently come to recognize as not so good for me – or for anyone, really.  I could quote you some scientific journal findings – I really could – but more importantly to me, I can tell you how I feel when I eat the garbage that I LOVE and when I eat what I know is good for me.  Well, garbage in, garbage out, as they say.  I’m very happy when masticating the tasty treats to which I referred.  However, shortly after ingesting the sugar, salt, carbs and other garbage I call yummy, I feel – HEAVY – SLOW – ACHY – UNCOMFORTABLE – FOGGY.  I can get one hell of a headache, too.  Oh, wait a minute.  That sounds like – - – wait for it – - – - MS.  Why would I want to replicate something that I spend a good deal of time, energy and money on trying to stop?  Great question.  Thank you.  You’re welcome.  Get on with it Kathy, people are listening in on your inner-head conversation here.  Oops!  Sorry about that.

Okay – so – let’s review.  Loads of scientific evidence that eating right can stave off health issues and improve your health now and in the future.  Eating for crap makes you feel like crap.  Let’s take a vote, shall we?  All in favor of eating right to feel better say “Aye.”  All against say “I’m an idiot.”  The ayes have it.

I’ve done a lot of research into how to infuse my diet – and my whole family’s – with more nutrition.  And, equally important, how I’m going to get it to fit into our lifestyle so we’ll do more than just talk a good game about it.  So, a friend suggested I watch a great movie, ” Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.”  Eye-opening.  Spoiler alert:  you’re gonna want a juicer.  Guess where I’m heading right now?  Yep – juicer bound.  Learning is the first step .   Now I need to take some action.  If you’re just learning, I highly recommend both the movie (I saw it for FREE on http://www.Hulu.com) and an amazing website by an MD who was hit – HARD – with MS and decided to hit back – with intensive nutrition.  Her name is Dr. Terry Wahls and you can find her at http://www.terrywahls.com.  Hop over to Facebook and friend her too.  There’s a great community of people in all stages of health and nutritional improvement.  It’s motivational and enlightening.  Hey – while you’re there, friend me too at FUMS.

Have you made any changes to your diet to improve your health?  Are you contemplating it?  Let’s share what’s working and what doesn’t.  It’ll be different for each of us, but we can undoubtedly help one another.  And isn’t that the point?