Anyone out there diagnosed with MS and trying to lose weight??

I haven't actually been diagnosed with MS yet, but am going through a bout of optic neuritis. The neurologist keeps throwing out those words and I am in the risk group for developing it. It seems that this disease is so hard to diagnose sometimes. I am also trying to lose weight. That is my greatest challenge at the moment.
Do you have any specific challenges that you are trying to overcome in your weight loss efforts? Any food that is hard for you to handle?
I wish you good luck in your efforts.

Oh yes...the fun phase of getting your diagnosis!! In actuality, the best diagnosis comes from a brain autopsy but I'm not ready to do that yet There are tests, however, that can lead them in the right direction. I initially had a CT scan which showed lesions on my brain. They then ordered an MRI which the radiologist and neurologist interpreted as MS according to the lesions. Our nerves are covered with a myelin sheath...I describe it as the coating around the wires that go from your lamp to the wall plug. If the wires are chewed or ripped, this causes the electrical circuit not to be properly connected. That's the same with MS...it causes the myelin sheath to be "chewed" and exposes the nerve and causes scar tissue at that site. That is what shows up as a lesion in the MRI. They can also do an MRI including your neck ... if there's a lesion in your neck, you definitely have MS...if there's not a lesion in your neck..you just don't have a lesion in your neck!! Good luck...get healthy and get fit!!
As far as dieting, my neuro said to concentrate on a low-fat or heart smart diet. I have been getting on the internet and looking for low-fat recipes. I am going tomorrow to our hospital's Health Plex which is an exercise area in which you are assigned a "coach"...my neuro wrote me a Rx... I'm very content to be sedentary but I know I have to do something for my health sake!
Type Heart Smart in your search and you'll get alot of links!
Keep me posted!!

Hi Nraye!

I had the MRI first. Fortunately it didn't reveal any lesions at this time and there was no "white matter changes". But my neuro said that it just put me into a lower percentile for developing MS over the next couple of years. I think he has his doubts though. It seems that with everything I have read and seen on the Internet, optic neuritis is a very suspect condition as it relates to MS. I don't have pain anymore (thankfully!) but still have decreased vision in my right eye. I am scheduled to have another visual field test done in 2 weeks. If I haven't regained the vision by then, I think it may be a permanent loss. But as long as I can still see pretty well to do everything that I need to do, I will be okay. Right now I just have altitudinal and pheripheral visual loss. My neuro says that sometimes the lesions may not show up in the MRI and other tests have to be performed. He keeps talking about a spinal tap. But I don't know..... I have some other pressing health needs right now that believe it or not are taking the forefront. I need foot surgery to correct a tendon rupture. I am sure that all those years of carrying around excessive weight has really taken a toll on this old body. I began to have pain in my ankle and tried to ignore it at first, coming on the heels of the optic neuritis - I thought it may be another form of neuritis. But after it began to swell and was tender to the touch, my husband made me go to my family doctor. Good thing! X-rays revealed that it wasn't due to neuritis. I just wish I hadn't waited so long. I may have made it worse by waiting. I need to get my weight under control more than ever now. My mom has just begun a new way of eating and she has lost about 23 lbs. I am very glad for her. Maybe she will be the encouragement that I need.

Be well and take care of yourself.

Gracietoo

Hi Gracie...
Bless your heart! Sounds like you have ... and are...really going through it It can make a person crazy!! I'm going to include the site for the MS forum... http://www.delphi.com/dir-delphi/ You might find some help there, too. There's a Doc Schneider on there who has MS and worked in the field prior to diagnosis... he answers any and all questions... everyone on there is so nice and friendly. You can get on and read some of the messages and may recognize similar symptoms in someone else that you can relate to. Others have talked of the vision problems. One must be very careful because sometimes people fall into going to the (i.e.) eye doctor for one thing, and the foot doctor for another thing and the chiropractor for something else... and if all of these examinations were put together, it would indicate MS...but as the patient, we may not know that. MS was the last thing on my mind... I thought I'd had a stroke!! Then the symptoms went away but my family doctor is very thorough and order a CT scan which showed the lesions. So I'm one who was diagnosed very quickly. Many, many people mess with doctors for years before getting their diagnosis... I have heard of the spinal tap being done but my neuro said that's a test of the last resort You hang in there and keep after the docs to get you the care you deserve!!

Hi Nraye,

Thank you for the info. I will definitely check it out! I need all the information I can get. You are so right about all the "weird" symptoms that you go to all kinds of Dr.'s about. Something I read recently warned about assuming everything was realted to MS until you get them checked out. But with the way my ankle started out, I really did think it was related! The swelling and tenderness came later. But I can think back to past ailments and wonder if they were related. Usually there was no reasonable cause for some of the things and they eventually got better on their own.
I saw my mom this weekend and she looked great! She has really changed her style of eating and especially reduced her sodium intake as well as calories and fat. She feels better than she has in a long time and as I expected....she did inspire me! I have had a good weekend of making better food choices and I feel good about myself. My foot surgery is scheduled for Sept. 10th and I am determined to lose some weight before then. I figure every little bit counts! It's going to be hard enough as it is especially since I will be "dragging" around so much extra weight. I really wish I had stuck to my weight loss efforts long ago, maybe I wouldn't be so scared about all this.
Thanks again for your help and encouragement!
You are an angel!!!

You go girl!! I'm so proud of you for getting motivated and starting to revamp your eating habits!! I saw Suzanne Somers on Rosie O'Donnell's show yesterday and she inspired me to get started!! I'm going today after work and getting her book. She was talking about getting naked in front of your mirror and looking at your body type. She said that if you tend to carry weight around your middle, then you are storing fat from sugars and carbohydrates... Well, that would be me...and I didn't even have to look in the mirror I know that I eat way too many carbohydrates!! She was saying, too, that you can eat proteins and fats together but fats and carbs are almost lethal because your body recognizes both as sugar and stores the fats. My body must think I'm a bear and need to get ready for the winter
But good for your mom and good for you!! As long as we keep in our heads that we didn't get this way overnight and it's not going to go away overnight, we'll be better off!!
Keep me posted!!

You really sound like a kindred spirit! I too must be a bear because that is exactly where I seem to store most of my weight, right around the middle! Sometimes I feel like I am a slave to carbs.....(especially the fat laden ones!!!) I had a good day today but I did get a little hungry. I guess the body rebels when you try to change what it's used to. You echo my husbands words when you say that the weight didn't get on overnight and it won't go away overnight. I just have to be more patient. I have a terrible habit of getting all "gung-ho" for a few days and then the next thing I know my chin is dragging the ground! Just having someone experiencing some of the same pitfalls is really encouraging to me. (Even though I wish you weren't!) It's hard to share these things with people who don't always understand.
I tried to get on the scale at work today and see just exactly where I have gone these past couple of months.....but my "fracture boot" got in the way. I couldn't get me and IT on the scale!!!!! So, I will monitor my progress by how I feel (and how my clothes feel). When I make good choices, I know only progress and success will follow!
Thanks for the encouragement and I hope in some small way, I can be of help to you. Have a great day.
And as always, take care of yourself.
Gracie

Don't you love these little smiley faces and all the different styles of them... I wish I could have them in my regular email because I'm always doing this :>) or :>/ or something!
I know what you mean starting out all "gung ho" and then fading... I've done it a million times. "TODAY I START A DIET" and I read (i.e.) Sugar Busters and it all makes sense and I like what it says and.........two weeks later I'm eating just like I always did and I've gained back the 10 pounds I lost and added a couple more!! That's how I got to where I am now. I'll never forget when I first crossed the 200 mark... I cried...I was sick...how could I be so heavy...how could i let myself get to 200#.... okay, how could I let myself get to 220#.... You know how it goes! It is so discouraging and so disgusting! I am CONVINCED that some of us do not have some gene or cell or connector that others do who can eat whatever they want and stay thin. My oldest sister and I are built exactly the same but my middle sister was the one who lived on fast food (I don't eat any) and would eat a stack of chocolate chip cookies for breakfast (while I had my healthy breakfast) and she never weighed over 125! I don't understand... I will acknowledge that I'm more sedentary and maybe the whole secret is moving...God, I hope not But I have started exercising. I asked my neurologist to refer me to our hospital's Healthplex. For the first month or so, my insurance will pay for my "workout" and then after that, it's $18/month. They have great equipment and the room isn't filled with 90# yuppies who are complaining about how fat they are!! Everyone there was originally referred due to a health problem and have stayed to continue working out OR they are employees of the hospital...but it's not like going to a Spa So, I'm trying to train myself to drink more water and to get in the mindset of making the Healthplex part of my life.... hopefully, I'll live PAST the gung ho period and continue on in to 'wagons ho'...and move forward!!!!
As for you... you need to learn how much you are worth 'saving'... and if eating better and 'moving' a little will help you live longer, it's worth it because YOU'RE worth it!! I also feel that our self-esteem has something to do with GETTING overweight.... like there's a little voice in the back of our head saying "what difference does it make how much I weigh... no one cares anyway".... or we 'protect' ourselves from having close relationships by putting greater distance between us and them (with our carbo middles) ... so we also need to unlock those feelings and get rid of them!!
As for the carbo problem... what they say is not to eat carbohydrates and fats together... protein and fats is okay...but not carbos and fats... read Sugar Busters or Suzanne Somers' book... it's not easy but you're worth it!!

Greetings Nraye,
I made it another day! Today was actually pretty good. I'm really trying to watch what I eat but I think I let my blood sugar get a little too low this afternoon. That's a problem with not eating as I should for so long (while taking insulin at that) and then cutting WAY back (on the same dosage of insulin!) and trying to balance everything out! It usually takes a few days to get re-adjusted. I even drank more water today too. Watermelon essence, wasn't too bad either. No sugar in it, sort of like the watermelon "ran" through the water! Ha! Ha!

How was the Healthplex? I know what you mean by not having to be there with all those tiny folks who have never had an extra pound on their bones! Are you on equipment there? Do you have a specific plan that you are working on there? I wish we had something like that here. But right now I guess it wouldn't matter. I couldn't participate at the present time, but I sure have gotten good at getting around in this "boot"! As long as I don't have to go up an incline I do pretty well. You will have to tell me all about the Healthplex adventure. Keep me posted.

What is Sugar Busters? Is it a diet, a book? I have never heard of it but it sounds like something I ought to know about. I CRAVE sweets something fierce! I found these little 130 calorie low fat, low sodium, low sugar "pastries" yesterday in CHOCOLATE-EXPRESSO!!! Yum.....Yum. I took one to work for breakfast this morning and it was Heavenly! Very satisfying and one of those healthfood type products that we discovered last night at the grocery store. You should have seen us, my husband convinced me to ride around in one of those little motorized carts so I wouldn't have to hobble around the store. He was walking alongside and we ended up in the "specialty" food section. There are a lot of neat things there. Also, you wouldn't believe the products that I saw on the lower shelves.......I guess when I walk, I never bent down to see what was on the lower half
Anyway, it was very interesting and we bought a few new things to try. Anything to make dieting and staying healthy more interesting!
BE GUNG-HO! As always.....Take care of yourself!
Gracie

WOW!! You're really serious about this... way to go!! I know I have lost a couple of pounds and it's probably just from sweating... between exercising and this heat and humidity... there won't be anything left of me... OH! one could only hope
The Healthplex was great... I really liked it. Since my MS neuro referred me, I have a PT with me for now... teaching me the machines and what to do , etc... they said after about a month or so, I will be on my own and can come and go as I want. It really is a nice place! For a relatively small town, it's quite "up-town" to have this
I really need to plan menues and get to the grocery store. Sugar Busters is a diet... it's a book and a tape... I had both until I loned it out The book has sample menues... it really does make sense and spells out what to eat together... like Proteins and fats are okay and carbs by themselves. I noticed when I was doing it before that once I got away from carbs and sugars for a few days, I quit craving them. Drinking water helps immensely... I never t hought I'd say that ... I have always hated water!!!!! But I have found that forcing myself to drink it, makes me get thirsty for it now... who knew !!!!
You keep at this, kiddo... and you will do it! I know you can... you have the desire... so do it!! I always say...it's your car so drive it!!!
Take care and have a healthy weekend!!!
Marlene

I found out the hard way that you really DO need to eat protein with carbs!!! For some reason I felt it necessary to eat a muffin my boss brought in yesterday. BIG mistake. 3 hours after eating it my blood sugar was still 196. (This was a bran muffin with raisins). I though that eating just that for breakfast would be okay. I thought that surely a mere muffin wouldn't be so bad. The problem was that I didn't know what was in it. Today I ate a couple of slices of low calorie toast with some light margarine and a small piece of chicken (not my usual breakfast food mind you!) and the blood sugar was within normal range throughout the morning. I guess I do need to listen to other people's experiences BEFORE I do my own thing! HA!HA! My clothes are feeling better. I don't know how much I have lost (if any). It's too hard to weigh with the "boot" on. I got the papers from the surgeon today telling me about how to prepare for the surgery. Now I'm beginning to really get scared. I still have about 4 weeks before the surgery so I will probably be a basket-case by then.
I go back to my neuro on Monday. He doesn't even know about my foot yet. I'm sure he is going to have questions and will want to make sure the orthopaedic is right about his diagnosis. I guess x-rays don't lie! Fortunately, I go back to the Dr. one more time before the surgery. I will make absolutely sure he has no doubts before I actually have the surgery.
Good luck at the Healthplex! You have a great weekend.
Take care of yourself!
Gracie

Hi Gracie and NRaye, I just logged on to the site and have read all your postings. It sounds like you both are having a time of it. I looked at all the other threads but this was the only one that seemed to fit my category. I was diagnosed with Peripheral Neuropathy which means that the nerve endings in my extremities are being destroyed. (Here's that analogy of the wire coatings again but how else to explain it.) So far only my feet back to the arch have gone conpletely numb but some days I drop things easily and even my nose and lips have had their days. Still I need to lose weight. Lots of it I keep trying different things like extra B vitamins and swimming. I belong to a Tops group and I realy like the encouragement I get there but every little bit helps. So keep up the good work on your end and I will keep trying on mine and maybe we can beat one of these demons. I hope you don't mind my barging in here. It is just nice to let off steam to someone who knows what you are talking about. Best wishes, Mammaw

Welcome Mammaw!
We are glad to have you join us. (I'm sure Nraye feels the same way too!) So sorry to hear about your nerve problems. I understand how frustrating it gets at times. As for the weight problems.....we all struggle but maybe we can be of great encouragement to each other. It is so nice to have a place to come and share our "up's and down's" and to know that there are others that truly understand. Please know that there are many folks out here who want to be a blessing to you especially when the pressure of "things" get you down. Hope to see you often at this site!
Take care.
Gracie

Hi to all....I, too, am a mamaw, but my grandson (1 of 4) christened me gamma. I know what you all mean... For 15 years they told me I had MS, then they said the MRI was negative, so I didn't know what was wrong. Now, they say the MRI was inconclusive, I probably do have MS, but right now it's inactive. Instead, I have arthritic psoraisis, (new) which is active Yep, I'm confused. The one thing I have learned is that hidden food allergies can make auto-immune(or any other problems), a lot worse. For example, if I eat pork, within 2 or 3 days I have alot of problems walking...Doc gave me a great book that explains it all, I'll look for the name, if anyone's interested. Thanks for the MS chat address, I need all the help I can get! Bye for now...Gamma