The Overcoming MS Retreat - I'm Back

I'm back from my 5 day Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis retreat in the Yarra Valley and I feel like a whole new person.

I spent 5 very busy and emotional days with 34 other people learning all about MS, current medical information, and all the diet and lifestyle choices I can make to improve my quality of life.

Here's a quick summary of what I learnt.  I think most of these apply to all of us, not just the 1 in 1,000 with MS.

• Eat more fruit and vegetables.  I know, we all mean to, but they are so important to our nutrition.
• Get some vitamin D.  Get 10-15 minutes of all over sun or if it's cloudy take a vitamin D supplement.  You will start hearing a lot about how Australians have become vitamin D deficient over the next few years.
• Eat more omega 3 in place of saturated fat in your diet.  Choose fish over meat.
• Avoid highly refined vegetable oils, trans fats, and hydrogenated oils - they're not good, and they're in so many foods we buy.  Read the labels.
• Eat real food rather than processed food.  If the ingredient list has 20 items listed and many of them have numbers, give them a miss.
• Exercise.  Swim, ride a bike, do something a little more than just walking.  It's not for weight loss.  It's for your health. 
• Meditate or take some quiet 'me' time daily.  Slow your breathing down.
• Find ways to reduce or eliminate stress in your life.
• Look after your emotional, social and spiritual side - build a support network of friends & family.  Laugh often - it's good medicine!

The retreat was truly a life changing experience, and I highly recommend it to anybody with MS or there was one lady there with motor-neuron disease.  If you have MS or know somebody with MS, please email me and I'll happily tell you more about it.  You can get a free copy of the book Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis from The Gawler Foundation here.

Yesterday was day 1 of my recovery plan.  I swam 750 metres in the pool at my gym.  I made my first batch of bircher muesli.  I ate sardines on toast for lunch - not nearly as disgusting as it sounds.  My whole family had steamed snapper with Asian flavours and vegetables for dinner.  I bought a yoghurt making kit, so I can make my own soy yoghurt.  I used a meditation app to meditate for 15 minutes.  Not quite the one hour of daily meditation we did at the retreat, but it's a start.  Today is day 2.  More changes to make.

Thanks for all your lovely comments and support from my last post.  I appreciate it.

The MS Moonlight Walk & an MS Retreat

Tonight is the MS Moonlight Walk.  Thousands of people will be walking a 5 or 10 km route along Brisbane's Southbank in the hope of raising $300,000 to help the 23,000 people in Australia living with MS.  

I had planned on getting a team together and doing the walk myself, but my calendar quickly clashed, and family comes first.  My daughter has a big musical theatre concert on Sunday, and I won't be able to see it as I am attending an MS retreat for the week, flying out of Brisbane Sunday morning.  The only chance I will have to see her perform is during the dress rehearsal tonight which is at the same time as the walk.

MS Retreat

I will not be blogging or on instagram for the next week.  I am attending the Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis retreat at The Gawler Foundation in the Yarra Valley, just outside of my hometown Melbourne.  It's a small intimate retreat of 38 people with MS, or their carers.  It's run by Professor George Jellinek who wrote the book Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis.  I think it will be educational, emotional and a little confronting.

Why am I going to a retreat to learn self-help and self-healing techniques?  Because whilst I inject myself daily with medicine that costs over $1,000 per month*, I believe there is more to good health and living well than relying on medicine.  I believe the food we eat, and the way we choose to live our lives are just as important.

I tried so hard to think of a way to explain why I am so determined to look after myself and how it feels, but it's so hard ... it's so personal.  If you have 4 minutes to spare, please listen to Tricia's story as I think she explains how we all feel really well.

If you would like to know more about the MS Moonlight walk or would like to sponsor somebody who is walking, visit the web site here.

* I am grateful that I live in Australia, and that the huge cost of my medicine is largely covered under the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS).

It's Official. I'm one of the 0.1%

This is a really hard post for me.  Some of you will know I had an MRI back at Easter, and nervously spent my time pinning while I waited for the results.  Yesterday I went to a new neurologist for a review and second opinion.  She confirmed my diagnosis.  I have Multiple Sclorosis (MS).

What is MS?

When I was told by the first neurologist that he thought it was MS, he asked if I knew what it was?  Apart from doing the MS read-a-thon as a kid I really didn't have a clue. 

MS is an auto-immune degenerative disease.  Your own immune system attackes the myelin sheath (the fatty lining) around your central nervous system (your brain and spine).  The lining is a bit like the plastic coating around electrical wires, when it is damaged the wires (or in my case nerves) are exposed and don't work properly.  The messages get disrupted or don't get through.

Who gets MS?

About 1 in 1,000 people in Australia have MS (the other 99.9% don't).  According to MS Australia, twice as many women as men have MS, with the onset of symptoms occurring most often between the ages of 20 and 40.  It is often referred to as a young person's disease.  I'm 42.  My neurologist said to me it is quite possible that I have been living with the condition for years but the symptoms have been mild.  In hindsight, I can now see some of those symptoms that I dismissed as being 'normal' or 'nothing to worry about'.

Cause & Cure

This is the bad bit.  Researchers still don't know what causes MS and there is no cure.  Around the world, there is much research being done.  They're getting close but they're not quite there yet.

To tell or not to tell?

I really struggled to know whether to 'go public' with this. I'm pretty much a wear your heart on your sleeve kind of girl, so late last night I published a photo on instagram, and then it was done. It was out there, and I didn't feel any pressure to keep this 'big secret'. I hope that by sharing this, I have helped to spread some awareness of the condition.

Now what?

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy with my first prescription for a drug that I must inject myself with everyday, much like diabetics (another auto-immune disease) have to inject themselves with insulin everyday.  The medicine won't cure the MS, but it helps.  Much like a diabetic, I now need to take control of my diet and lifestyle so that I can lead a happy and fulfilling life.  I don't mean just eat an apple, I mean I really have to overhaul my whole diet and lifestyle - eat really well, exercise, control stress and simplify my life.

I believe:

You are what you eat

You are what you think

and you are what you live.

Some Changes to my Blog

I am a home decor girl.  It's in my blood.  I will go into a homewares/vintage shop and be in my own little world.   Touching and feeling things.  Imagining where it would fit in my home.  You ladies can relate to that, it's just the way we are.  So my blog will still have posts about making over furniture, creating a stylish home, and fun craft and DIY projects.  But ... one of the biggest challenges I have faced lately is how to eat really healthy delicious food that is low in saturated fat and dairy-free.  I've had the good fortune to meet half a dozen ladies with MS in the past few weeks, and we are all in the same boat. Asking each other "how do you mash your potatoes without butter and milk?  So over the coming weeks I will be adding a page to the top of my blog called 'The MS Foodie', to share the food I've found.  That doesn't mean you have to have MS to eat the food - it's just really healthy, tasty food - best enjoyed in a stylish setting!

Love and big virtual hugs to you all.