“Medicine sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it.”
- Ovid
Multiple sclerosis is the disease that keeps on taking. It takes away our mobility, our basic functions, touch, feel, bladder control, and diminished sensations. We take medications to treat the symptoms, to prevent the progressive disease from progressing. Sometimes, the side effects of these drugs can be more severe than the disease itself. Oh man, when I was on steroids (prednisone, dexamethosone, oral, intravenous), it really sucked: the sleeplessness, the withdrawal, the highs, the lows, the feeling that I was being electrocuted. We can invest so much faith in these medications, hoping upon hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll be beneficial. I just finished a year-and-a-half tour with Tysabri. Did it work or didn't it? I couldn't say for sure, but my doctor was concerned about PML (the scary brain infection). Onward ho to Rituxan.
Occasionally, we get a little something back, as evidenced by the following experience: When it comes to intimacy, the disease has caused what is, from my understanding, a not uncommon effect on my sexual function. What is the number they name in the ad for men who live with the issue, MS or no? 20,000,000 men are using it, this little pill called Viagra. Add this one to the long list of medicines and treatments I never expected to be using. The affliction it treats is commonly known as ED (erectile dysfunction). I didn't know the official name for it until I heard an ad on the radio a while back talking about a remedy for "ED." The reason I am going public with this secret is that I recently noticed an uptick in over-all function (not just down there) whenever I use Viagra. I even notice a little more energy the next day at the gym.
So, being the modern guy that I am, I went on the Internet and Googled "Viagra MS" to see if there is anything to my little theory and, lo-and-behold, what did I find but the results of a study on mice published last year describing the benefits of Viagra for restoring function. Read about it here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110519090354.htm. Of course Stu at Stu's Views and MS News was on this one last year shortly after it was published: (http://wwwmsviewsandrelatednews.blogspot.com/2011/05/viagra-could-reduce-multiple-sclerosis.html). Beginning this week I'll be taking a generic form of Cialis, a daily pill that contains the same active ingredient (tadalafil) as Viagra to see if I can get the benefit all the time. What this means for women with MS I am not entirely sure.
My other little secret: I am tapering off Baclofen. Why, you ask? Well, I got thrown out of whack when I slept through the night. Usually, I take a Baclofen along with Tizanidine and Clonozepam when I wake up in the middle of the night. Instead, I took the combination when I woke up. Five hours later I went to physical therapy and had the best session I've had in months, since last summer. Crazy, right? Then I remembered the reason I stopped taking Baclofen many years ago: It made my legs heavy and, thereby, more difficult to walk. I will live with a little more spasticity if it might make it easier to walk.
Here's the thing: we're always hoping to somehow get better, even completely recover, as unlikely as the possibility can sometimes seem. Our anxieties can interfere, too. We may be willing to try anything, hoping to improve our condition – or nothing at all, out of fear or denial. We each have our own ways of coping. Myself, I've always kept an open mind. Hey something's got to work, right? And I am fortunate enough to have a doctor I can trust like a brother. But in the end, we must be our own best advocates and remain aware and informed in order to make decisions that keep our best interests in mind.
Be well,
Marc
marc@empirelifecoaching.com
Multiple sclerosis is the disease that keeps on taking. It takes away our mobility, our basic functions, touch, feel, bladder control, and diminished sensations. We take medications to treat the symptoms, to prevent the progressive disease from progressing. Sometimes, the side effects of these drugs can be more severe than the disease itself. Oh man, when I was on steroids (prednisone, dexamethosone, oral, intravenous), it really sucked: the sleeplessness, the withdrawal, the highs, the lows, the feeling that I was being electrocuted. We can invest so much faith in these medications, hoping upon hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll be beneficial. I just finished a year-and-a-half tour with Tysabri. Did it work or didn't it? I couldn't say for sure, but my doctor was concerned about PML (the scary brain infection). Onward ho to Rituxan.Occasionally, we get a little something back, as evidenced by the following experience: When it comes to intimacy, the disease has caused what is, from my understanding, a not uncommon effect on my sexual function. What is the number they name in the ad for men who live with the issue, MS or no? 20,000,000 men are using it, this little pill called Viagra. Add this one to the long list of medicines and treatments I never expected to be using. The affliction it treats is commonly known as ED (erectile dysfunction). I didn't know the official name for it until I heard an ad on the radio a while back talking about a remedy for "ED." The reason I am going public with this secret is that I recently noticed an uptick in over-all function (not just down there) whenever I use Viagra. I even notice a little more energy the next day at the gym.
So, being the modern guy that I am, I went on the Internet and Googled "Viagra MS" to see if there is anything to my little theory and, lo-and-behold, what did I find but the results of a study on mice published last year describing the benefits of Viagra for restoring function. Read about it here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110519090354.htm. Of course Stu at Stu's Views and MS News was on this one last year shortly after it was published: (http://wwwmsviewsandrelatednews.blogspot.com/2011/05/viagra-could-reduce-multiple-sclerosis.html). Beginning this week I'll be taking a generic form of Cialis, a daily pill that contains the same active ingredient (tadalafil) as Viagra to see if I can get the benefit all the time. What this means for women with MS I am not entirely sure.
My other little secret: I am tapering off Baclofen. Why, you ask? Well, I got thrown out of whack when I slept through the night. Usually, I take a Baclofen along with Tizanidine and Clonozepam when I wake up in the middle of the night. Instead, I took the combination when I woke up. Five hours later I went to physical therapy and had the best session I've had in months, since last summer. Crazy, right? Then I remembered the reason I stopped taking Baclofen many years ago: It made my legs heavy and, thereby, more difficult to walk. I will live with a little more spasticity if it might make it easier to walk.
Here's the thing: we're always hoping to somehow get better, even completely recover, as unlikely as the possibility can sometimes seem. Our anxieties can interfere, too. We may be willing to try anything, hoping to improve our condition – or nothing at all, out of fear or denial. We each have our own ways of coping. Myself, I've always kept an open mind. Hey something's got to work, right? And I am fortunate enough to have a doctor I can trust like a brother. But in the end, we must be our own best advocates and remain aware and informed in order to make decisions that keep our best interests in mind.
Be well,
Marc
marc@empirelifecoaching.com
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