How MS Effects Us Emotionally

[doni54]

Hi All,

I know most all of us on this forum struggle with varying emotions.  Those who are dx and those who are close to an MS dx, and yes even us in limboland.  Sometime these emotions get the best of us, and makes it hard to deal with everyday situations.

I found the following article and thought it was appropiate and might help those who read it.  We often refer to ourselves as "crazy" or "losing it", but with what all of us deal with on a daily basis, I think we do extremely well with coping with our obstacles.

We might feel crazy sometime, but we know we aren't, we are just having a temporary lapse in being able to deal with our situations!!!!

Hope this article helps with understand how MS effects the emotions.  I will look for other articles that just relate to chronic illness on emotions, since some of us here aren't sure if we have MS or not.

_____________________________

Personality is the sum of the behavioral and attitudinal characteristics that give each one of us our individuality.

Our personalities are the result of the complex interaction between our native abilities, our experiences, our values and the mechanisms we have developed to help us make sense of our lives.

Personality is the habitual way we organize and present a coherent picture of who we are to ourselves and to others.

The first way that MS can affect Personality is by changing a person's self-concept and sense of Emotional well-being. MS often presents a very different physical and emotional experience that can be extremely difficult and painfully slow to integrate.

The second way MS can affect Personality is by altering Cognitive abilities and skills. Sometimes the disease impacts the ability to Organize, Integrate and Understand our experiences.


MS and Emotions
The diagnosis of MS or the impact of any subsequent exacerbation is a psychologically traumatic event that can change a person's sense of security and safety in the world.

Aspects of life that previously seemed reliable and trustworthy suddenly become frightening and undependable. The traumatic impact of MS is intensified because the course of the illness cannot be predicted.

This lack of predictability make it even more difficult to come to terms with and integrate the illness. As one of our patients said to me, "How can I adjust if I don't know what I'm adjusting to?"

Coming to terms with MS necessarily involves dealing with loss. Sometimes it involves the actual loss of physical function. But the loss of security that comes with the loss of predictable health also needs to be acknowledged.

As people struggle to adjust to MS, they often have strong Emotional reactions. Depression, Anxiety, Fear, Frustration and Anger are common responses.

Many people also experience Irritability, Distractibility, Poor Concentration and and a loss of interest in activities that were formerly interesting.

Some of these problems can be successfully treated with medication, especially when the underlying cause is Depression.

Learning to live with a chronic illness is one of life's most stressful experiences. As with all new learning, it is often peppered with false starts and errors in judgment.

Many people with MS have difficulty making changes, even when these changes would actually make their lives easier. This "resistance to change" is often labeled "denial," and sometimes it is just that.
More often, however, it arises more from confusion and uncertainty about what changes to make and how to make them. This difficulty is compounded by the tendency we all have to cling to our routine ways of doing things when we are under stress.

Sometimes resistance to change is rooted in the fear that those around us will not tolerate the realities that made these changes necessary.

Sometimes people with MS have difficulty controlling their Emotional responses. A mild stimulus can set off a response that far exceeds what the person feels. For example, sometimes people find themselves crying when they aren't sad or laughing uncontrollably at something that is only mildly funny.
Sometimes people feel embarrassed by these problems to the point of avoiding social situations. Both they and their family members may mistakenly believe that this lack of emotional control is the result of Depression.

It often is not linked to Depression but to Brain functions which can be successfully treated with medication in many cases.

The degree of Emotional difficulty experienced by people trying to integrate MS is not necessarily determined by the severity of physical impairment.

Relatively mild symptoms that may be virtually invisible to others can be just as hard to integrate - sometimes harder - as more severe, physically disabling symptoms.

Even when the physical trauma created by MS is mild and transitory, people can experience a powerful psychological trauma, with all the feelings of vulnerability, fear of uncertainty and sense of
helplessness that can accompany a major trauma.

http://www.geocities.com/hotsprings/3468/ms_personality.html

[Quixotic1]

This short article touches on a whole bunch of the things we have to deal with.  Excellent, as with the bumped thread that DeeBee found.  How DO you all remember all these threads??  I'm sure glad you are all around.  

My scant organizational skills went the way of the dodo bird.

My sisters definition of MS is this, "It's like a game show.  You start out with 25 symptoms....ANY 25 symptoms, then every 3 months or so you get 6 more symptoms (random draw) and sometimes, but not always, get to give a few back."

Keep the good stuff flowing!

Quix

[saveone]

I plan on printing this and giving it to several ppl, including some professionals.

Stay well

terry

[uk2]

Another fasinating read, so many things in there but specially the how do you adapt to an ever changing disorder! you never know where you are if you have your leg removed you adjust as there is an adjustment period but in an ever changing disorder, fibrois simular to this it hard to plan ahead.

Thanks doni

sam

[Lulu54]

Doni,
Thanks.  This ties in very neatly with another discussion going on about "normal" and how we are constantly redefining our normal.
Often I wonder if I need to be on something for depression, but very quickly I forget that thought, so I guess not yet but I can see it could become a very real problem.

be well,
L

[doublevision1]

Thanks for posting this article, Doni.  It's excellent and really hits the nail on the head, doesn't it?

Cosmobirdy: this would be a great addition to your daughter's research on how MS affects our emotions.

I'm going to revive an old thread on this topic:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/402673