Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system which can be marked by numbness, weakness, loss of muscle coordination, and problems with vision, speech, and bladder control. MS is thought to be a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks myelin - the substance that serves as a nerve insulator and helps to transmit nerve signals. The progress, severity and symptoms of MS are unpredictable. No one ever never knows when attacks will occur, how long they will last, or how severe they might be.

BLAAAAaaaaaa!

No Kidding; Right?

If you read the literature, search the internet or talk with people who think they know MS you might just sit down, mid-stride, and say “to hell with it”… but we don’t; do we?

Each and every one of you has come to this page (and some of you have been coming here for years now) because sitting down on life is just not who you are; not before MS, not with MS, not ever!

Madam Secretary Napolitano,

I’m quite upset… and you should know about it (before someone far more litigious than myself tells you)!

I guess I should preface the forthcoming tirade with the fact that, as I am a proud former member of the US Coast Guard, I know very well the difficulties faced by the line employees of the Transportation Security Administration section of your Homeland Security department. I do not blame them.

I live with multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Current research points to the body’s immune system as a possible culprit of the disease. As a result, heavy doses of corticosteroids are often employed to battle MS.

Sleep comes in fits and starts when I am in the midst of an MS attack. I’ve been told by my doctor that my brain goes into overdrive trying to re-route signals and assessing damage and generally freaking out during times of active exacerbation.

As I head into the third week of this “thing,” sleep is becoming more and more spotty.

I get VERY tired but will only sleep for a few hours before something will wake me and I lay awake three to five hours, too exhausted to get up and do anything, too awake to shut down the bouncing of my mind. If I am able to get back to sleep by 5 a.m., I sleep until about 8 a.m. and wake again; this time tired and cranky.

Last evening, while driving home from Poker Night (my self-help group for men living with multiple sclerosis) I heard something on the radio about sleep.