There are few articles about the benefits of MS. When it comes out that I have the disease, there is a standard reply: "You don't look like you have MS." Or: "You'd never know." Nice. Thanks. I'm lucky. And deep inside I know that, although I never would have chosen it, it's had some odd gifts as in it has slowed my typical sixth-gear speed down to, say, fourth, and it's kept me doing yoga for decades (now going into my 45th year -- don't get excited, I'm not a daily practicer but I do keep it up).
Today comes the NY Times story by Lindsay Crouse with news of Kayla Montgomery, 18, who "was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line."
Why? Her legs go numb with activity and heat. Anyone with MS knows this problem. It's a fascinating article, nearly impossible to understand unless you've been there. To my eye, the article reads as entirely accurate with only one nit from this quarter -- the shocks likely ran down her spine not up as the article says. It's a common MS symptom called Lhermitte's sign, named for the French neurologist who first identified it. It was my very first indicator that happened just after my 28th birthday, when I sat up in bed, felt an electric shock rush down my spine...and I was entirely numb from my rib cage to my toes. After about a month, I regained feeling but it's been an intermittent problem ever since.
I wrote about it in this essay, "Feeling Numb," which has been published both in Ars Medica and in Voices of Multiple Sclerosis.
That's it for the moment. Gotta run, so to speak.
