Multiple Sclerosis: Healing the Soul From the Inside Out

Keeping balance between mind, body, and soul is a feat most people strive to attain, but what if it doesn’t feel physically possible? Chronic illness sufferers, like those with multiple sclerosis, often find they must choose between what they desire to do and what their body will let them do. For multiple sclerosis sufferers, good days and bad days are nearly impossible to predict, so making the most of the good days tends to be the norm. Embracing the good days to the fullest can often induce bad days, sometimes making recovery more difficult. 

Wellness starts from the inside out, making it seemingly impossible for someone suffering from a chronic illness to benefit fully from this practice, but this isn’t always the case. The mind has a unique way of pushing the body to extraordinary limits and sometimes, without much effort on the bodies conscious effort. 

Kristen Marie Dizard wrote an article for Race to Erase MS where she talked about how to “heal the soul without hurting the body” and how she was able to find balance in her life while struggling to maintain her MS. She often found that on her bad days her soul longed to be outside, playing with her family and exploring everything the world has to offer. When she would experience a good day, she would push her body beyond its limits, and oftentimes ended up in the emergency room due to severe flare-ups. She spoke about how finding balance was difficult but necessary to maintain a healthy mindset and an overall wellbeing. 

For other multiple sclerosis sufferers, she gave tips on how she works to maintain her good days without regretting it afterwards.

Hydration

Always bring water with you wherever you go. Staying hydrated is important for even the healthiest individuals, you are no exception. Many MS sufferers tend to have bladder dysfunction and need to use the restroom a lot, which might pose a problem when your on a family outing. Make sure you always know where the nearest restroom is and bring toilet paper or paper towels with you in case you need to “take it to the woods”.

What's great about physical activity and hydration is, normally, when you are exercising and using your body’s water, staying hydrated balances out your liquids and doesn’t result in excessive bathroom use. Each individual is different and there certainly are exceptions to this rule, which is why it’s important to stay prepared so you don’t have to end your outing early if there isn’t a restroom nearby.

Read on to learn more about how to work on feeling good from within.