Synopses & Reviews
Take charge of your MS and live a full, active lifeNeed to know more about MS? This friendly, authoritative guide gives you expert advice on making personal treatment choices, managing symptoms, staying healthy, and maximizing your health insurance options — as well as knowing how to deal with relapses and complications so you can keep your life on track.
You have MS: now what? — understand your diagnosis, get a handle on your feelings, and get to know the treatment options and healthcare professionals that can help
Get a game plan — develop immediate and long-term strategies for slowing disease activity, dealing with relapses, and managing symptoms
Here's to your health — find out how to take care of yourself with a balanced diet, the right kind of exercise, restful sleep, and stress management techniques
Make it personal — discover how to manage lifestyle issues with MS, from keeping the family rhythm going after diagnosis to building and maintaining healthy relationships
Plan for the future — get helpful, sensitive advice on facing scary "what-ifs" and making effective plans for an unpredictable future
Open the book and find:
The latest on medications and treatment options
Tips on managing mood changes, memory problems, bladder challenges, 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
Synopsis
Multiple Sclerosis For Dummies, 2nd Edition presents the latest information on new drugs, treatments, and research for multiple sclerosis including:
- New advances in medicine including coverage of Gilenya, the first oral disease-modifying therapy for MS approved by the FDA, and Acorda, which has released a new drug that manages the symptomatic issues with ambulation
- Resources to help patients and clinicians make effective, collaborative decisions regarding emerging MS therapies
- New data concerning the benefits of resistance training for strength, energy, and mood
- Updated lifestyle guidelines including more information about the role of vitamin D and sunlight exposure, smoking, and obesity in increasing a person’s risk of developing MS
- Information on chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI)—a hot topic in the MS community for the past year—and its relationship with MS
- Updated diagnostic criteria for MS
Synopsis
Your trusted, compassionate guide to living with MSBeing diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) doesn't mean your life is over. Everyone's MS is different and no one can predict exactly what yours will be like. The fact is, lots of people live their lives with MS without making a full-time job of it.
Multiple Sclerosis For Dummies gives you accessible, easy-to-understand information about what happens with MS—what kinds of symptoms it can cause, how it can affect your life at home and at work, what you can do to feel and function better, and how you can protect yourself and your family against the long-term unpredictability of the disease. You'll learn how to make treatment and lifestyle choices that work for you, what qualities to look for in a neurologist and the rest of your healthcare team, how to manage fatigue, the pros and cons of alternative medicine, why and how to talk to your kids about MS, stress management strategies, your rights under the Americans with Disabilities act, and so much more.
- Covers major medical breakthroughs that slow the progression of the disease and improve quality of life for those living with MS
- Helps those affected by MS and their family members understand the disease and the latest treatment options
- Helpful and trusted advice on coping with physical, mental, emotional, and financial aspects of MS
Complete with listings of valuable resources such as other books, websites, and community agencies and organizations that you can tap for information or assistance, Multiple Sclerosis For Dummies gives you everything you need to make educated choices and comfortable decisions about living with MS.
About the Author
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.
Table of Contents
Foreword xxiIntroduction 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 Team 53
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 Relapses 77
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 and Thinking 141
Chapter 10: Considering Complementary and Alternative Medicine157
Part III: Staying Healthy and Feeling Well 171
Chapter 11: Paying Attention to Your Health — It's Not All about 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 a Family 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 Research 321
Chapter 23: Ten Tips for Trouble-Free Travel 325
Glossary 329
Index 343