Olga Lukinskaya COMPOSITION "SCATTERED SCLEROSIS" KNOWN TO ALL, but very few people know what it really is for the disease. Often he is jokingly mentioned in connection with forgetfulness or absent-mindedness and is generally considered a kind of senile dementia - although in reality it is an incurable disease that occurs in young and even children. In Russia, multiple sclerosis occurs in about 40-60 people out of a hundred thousand. The exact cause of the disease has not yet been established, and its mechanism is associated with impaired transmission of impulses along nerve fibers. In the brain, thus there are so-called foci of sclerosis (scar tissue), scattered chaotically, hence the name of the disease. The disease manifests itself in various ways: visual impairment, bladder problems, numbness and tingling of limbs, gait disorders. A typical course of MS is an exacerbation that occurs every few months or years, and remission periods. After every exacerbation, the body does not recover completely, and after 20-25 years, many people suffer from disability: a person can lose the opportunity to walk and is in a wheelchair, sometimes can not speak, write or read, becomes completely dependent on outside help. Life expectancy at constant treatment strongly does not decrease, but its quality can seriously suffer: multiple sclerosis is often accompanied by depression. Cure multiple sclerosis is impossible today, although there are drugs that help prolong remission. Irina N. from Novosibirsk tells about how he lives with multiple sclerosis, what is the treatment and how the disease affects her life. I am forty years old, but the first manifestations of the disease appeared at the age of eighteen - although I realized this much later. Disorders of coordination were written off to some incomprehensible things: they recommended me a massage, injections, said that I was just overwrought. In 2005, I temporarily blinded to one eye, but even then the diagnosis was not determined. Only in 2010, when I just refused the right leg, I finally got to a neurologist. It turned out that both the loss of vision and the inability to move the leg were exacerbations of multiple sclerosis. Now I can see normally and can walk, although the latter is given to me hard. Unfortunately, the system is arranged in such a way that a therapist should send a neurologist, and those therapists to whom I came across simply did not think about multiple sclerosis, they could not suspect him. In ordinary polyclinics older doctors of the "old school" work more often - even now, when I get to one of them for an appointment, they are surprised and say that I can not have multiple sclerosis, because I'm "so young". Once in the clinic was a young doctor who was not ashamed to say directly that he did not know what was happening to me. Although it was clear that the problem was not in the joints, he suggested that I go to a rheumatologist in a private clinic just in case - and he immediately sent me to a neurologist. For seven years now I know what's going on. Multiple sclerosis is a diagnosis that will always be with me. Although my doctor says that the disease is progressing slowly, I notice that I began to feel much worse. I used to like walking very much, but now it's hard for me: I'm walking uncertainly, I stagger and after about three hundred meters on the asphalt I'm not able to do it - and some paths in the park can easily lead me to tears. I work in an advertising agency, with polygraphy, and I have very good color vision - it was such that out of twenty white sheets I spread out, I easily isolated enough white. When I first went blind in one eye, I was very frightened. And I realized that you need to look at this world as much as possible, absorb his beauty, while I have the opportunity. Probably, in some years I will sit down in a wheelchair - so, it is necessary to go, while I still can. I notice that I began to feel much worse. I used to like walking very much, but now it's hard for me to go: I'm not sure, I'm unsteady, and after three hundred meters on the asphalt I'm no longer able to. The injections that I'm treating are applied continuously, without interruptions. At first it was a medicine that was administered intramuscularly once a week. I remember flying to St. Petersburg for several weeks and carrying three syringes with the drug with me - it's a whole story, from the fact that I need a cooler bag and ending with a lot of oblique looks and questions at the airport. Of course, I had a certificate from the doctor explaining what it was and what it was for. Now the injections are daily, and I do not know how, for example, to go on vacation for a couple of weeks. Despite all this, I'm still afraid of needles. In addition, the current injections are very uncomfortable, they need to be done subcutaneously in the back of the shoulder, in the triceps area - and with one free hand it is simply impossible to pinch the skin fold and prick. The injection is done by my wife, who calms each time. She is very supportive of me. In general, the course of multiple sclerosis directly depends on the emotional background, and, by and large, upset, sad, I just can not cry - it can get worse. The diagnosis is issued to me for life, and the treatment will also continue until the end - and yet, the recipe is valid for a month, and in order to receive it, you need to spend two full days. I'm not talking about the hassle in the clinic, the time in the queues - we have an excellent neurologist, but she can not fully examine the patient and fill out all the paperwork in twelve minutes that are officially assigned to it. A year and a half ago we were promised that it will be possible to receive the prescription at least once every three months - but it is still there. At work, this is also reflected: not only do I regularly go to the hospital, I also spend two days a month on getting medicine. I was depressed three times, fortunately, not very hard - the doctors pulled me out without drugs. For the first time the doctor strictly told me how to be treated and with what regularity to come-but most importantly, forbade me to read about the disease on the Internet and draw some independent conclusions. That helped. The second time I came to a young neurologist who suddenly said: "Irina, you always had such a beautiful manicure, what happened? "- I looked at my running nails and realized that this is no longer possible, I was encouraged. The third time I was prescribed antidepressants, but I did not want to take them and asked for psychotherapy. The doctor formulated my attitude to the disease as watching a horror film. "Do you like horror movies? He asked, and I answered negatively.. "But you have invented a horror film, look at it endlessly and believe in it". I realized that he is right and do not have to invent anything and be afraid of the future. No matter how paradoxical it may sound, but thanks to the illness, I have a taste for life. It happens that the mood at zero, I want to drop my hands - but the wife takes my hand and says: "Let's go." We parted with my first wife - she is tired with me, because the illness seriously changes character. I used to be more spontaneous, but now I need to plan everything. There are many restrictions: I can not just go for a walk or buy alcohol, which I will not be sure. I'm banned from beaches - in general, not every partner will stand. Since we are together for two and a half years, we are all very calm. She supports me, she always pulls me out to some kind of events, she makes me feel sorry for myself. We often go to theaters, to exhibitions, just to beautiful places. It was such that suddenly gathered and went to the Ob Sea to collect seabuckthorn - we do not eat it, but the experience was very cool. No matter how paradoxical it may sound, but thanks to the illness, I have a taste for life. It happens that the mood at zero, I want to drop my hands - but the wife takes my hand and says: "Let's go". I go and see that I have something to continue the treatment for, and life is not so long to waste time on sadness. The disease affected relationships with people: I no longer have contact with those who only take energy. With multiple sclerosis, support from other patients is important, and often people with this diagnosis tend to communicate with each other. It helps to answer some everyday questions and, fortunately, most people with MS - optimists. However, there are also those who are constantly regretting themselves and looking for pity from others, but with them I try to reduce communication to a minimum. There are uncomfortable situations when some grandmother in the transport begins to resent that I'm sitting so young and do not give way. Or, for example, the director at work, even knowing about the diagnosis, could not understand in any way that I was really walking very slowly and I did not need to be sent to some activities related to walking. I think this is due to the lack of basic knowledge and a lack of observation. My second director of aunt has suffered for many years, MS - and even for a long time he did not perceive this disease as something serious. When a person has cancer, all, firstly, realize that this is something terrible, and secondly, it is usually very noticeable in appearance:

a person receives chemotherapy, which is poorly tolerated, undergoes heavy surgeries. With multiple sclerosis, there are no such external manifestations or they are not always clear - well, there is a person with a stick, and who knows why. There is not enough knowledge, not enough sympathy, people do not understand why in the middle of the day I have exhausted all physical strengths, do not take the diagnosis seriously. Cover: Wikimedia Commons Original article: "Do you like horror movies? »:.

How I Live with Multiple Sclerosis.