Meg Boehme, living with multiple sclerosis and a friend, discusses her reaction to receiving the diagnosis of MS, which she had suspected for many years due to little-understood symptoms. Meg highlights the importance of doctors being aware of the early indications of MS and helping patients see this as a chronic condition that can, in part, be treated with lifestyle changes and staying active. She also emphasizes the need for more affordable access to the latest treatments. 

Meg explains, "Oh, yes. It is a chronic condition. What annoys me is that in the media, it's often treated as a fatal condition. And for most of us, for those who don't have the progressive form, it fortunately is not. It doesn't have to be. The diagnosis is not necessarily the end of the world."

"There are good treatments coming down the road. The key to it is keeping yourself active and keeping your own body as healthy as you can. Eating well, staying active, keeping your weight manageable, keeping your diet manageable. Don't do stupid things. That being responsible for your own body, being responsible for your own life. When you get a diagnosis of anything like this, you need to take a look and know that you need to take care of yourself."

"It's a lifesaver, quite literally. I'll go into the chorus in pain, and the pain disappears. Singing is, in all ways, the lifeblood of me. And yes, the singing, the breathing, the posture, the fact that I stand on the risers for three hours a week, that it keeps my brain active, that I have to learn the music. We sing completely acapella. We have about three weeks to learn a piece of music and then sing without looking at the music. And that my director has MS and is not sympathetic towards me. If I'm dizzy or have a problem, I can sit, but I mostly don't. I gut it out. But if I come in pain, most of the time, I don't leave in pain. It's just the thing that keeps me going, and I think the big thing is that it keeps my brain active."

#MS #MultipleSclerosis #ChronicDiseases

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