Constraints of my MS

HEAT

Most MS’rs, myself number 1 on the list, just can’t stand the heat of the sun! 

Don’t get me wrong, I love to see the sun! Everyone smiles when the sun comes out to play but MS generally HATES heat of any kind!
Heat for me brings out all & I mean all of my symptoms worse than ever!

It makes me sluggish, it enhances my fatigue ten fold, it enhances my pain & because my fatigue is worse that means I can’t cope with my pain and so pain appears worse!
It gives me eye fatigue! Yep, eye fatigue which then means my vision suffers!
And if you hadn’t guessed, it makes me cranky!

I’m sorry I’m negative about the sunshine but these things you need to know!

When the sun shines all I really want to do is curl up into a ball & sleep in the coolest place I can find!

So many people get so happy to see the sun & feel it’s heat! Please don’t be surprised if I don’t smile as much when it’s hot outside! Just know that I feel your love for the sun & wish I could be as enthusiastic about it as you but I just can’t!

I’ve come up with some pictures to help show people how MS affects my vision, please remember though that everyone’s MS is different.

An example of someone who has normal vision looking into my back garden or ‘Fugly Manor Nature Reserve’ 

An example of my normal vision after damage left from optic neuritis 

An example of my vision when it’s too hot for me

Uhthoff’s phenomenon

Uhthoff’s phenomenon or Uhthoff’s sign is the temporary worsening of symptoms – most often visual symptoms but sometimes motor or sensory – caused by an increase in temperature. The visual symptoms may present as double vision, sharpness of vision, or black spots in the eyes.

The symptom takes its name from Wilhelm Uhthoff, a German neuro-opthamologist, who first described it in 1890

An example of what follows if I continue to get too hot!

Dizziness and vertigo

Dizziness or lightheadness is a common symptom of multiple sclerosis. If the sensation is more severe and gives the feeling that surroundings are spinning, it is referred to as vertigo.

In MS, these symptoms are caused by damage to areas that co-ordinate perception and response to visual and spatial information.

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