Let's get physical

I'm not one for exercise to be honest.

I know with MS that I really, really should. The benefits are well documented.

The MS Trust's website explains them clearly: "There have been many studies to look at the benefits of different kinds of exercise for people with MS. It can be hard to compare these studies, but they have in general shown exercise to be valuable for people with MS.

Moderate exercise has been shown to improve strength, mobility and bowel and bladder function for people with mild to moderate MS. Exercise is also helpful in helping maintain a healthy weight. This reduces your chances of acquiring co-morbidities, and can also reduce the impact of some MS symptoms, such as pain and fatigue.

Exercising is good for the mind and brain, not just the body. In general, exercise has been found to be neuroprotective, to improve symptoms of depression, improve cognitive processing speed, visuospatial memory, executive function and cognitive flexibility. These boosts can last for several days after exercising."

So, many excellent reasons there for pulling on my plimsolls and getting moving. But I just never really have - I've comforted myself that walking my daughter to school, doing the housework and having the occasional swim is enough. But I know it really isn't.

So it is with some surprise that I now find myself getting up every morning, stepping into my shorts and enjoying an online PE lesson courtesy of lockdown PE teacher Joe Wicks.

It started as a replacement sports session for my daughter while she's off school - but she gave up after a couple of weeks. I, however, haven't. Some of the exercises I can't do, and I adapt these for what my body can manage, but I'm really, really enjoying it.

Maybe all I needed was to be told what to do by an overly-enthusiastic curly-haired sports demon. Who knows? But it seems to be working - four weeks in and all but one session followed (we missed the first lesson, sorry Joe)

So thank you Joe, I hope it's doing me some good. And if (as the internet tells me) it takes 66 days to form a new habit, then we've still got a fair few weeks before exercise becomes a regular thing in my life.

But here's hoping Joe Wicks will help it become a fixture. Or, infact, a Wixture (I'll leave now.)

:: Let's get physical by Olivia Newton-John

Yummy, yummy, yummy

It was MS nurse appointment day on Monday.

Once we’d got the nice news out the way – she is to become a grandma, I didn’t get lost on the drive over – we got into the Tecfidera review.

As previously mentioned, I have been suspicious of the lack of side effects to date. Thus far they have amounted to a couple of hot flushes and a bit of a runny nose.

When I first picked up the prescription, I was given a factsheet outlining all the potential gastro-intestinal side effects and all the over the counter medication I could have in stock to try and ward them off.

I have yet to experience them and I DO NOT WANT THEM (block capitals in case they’re reading this) but with 4 out of 10 people experiencing them, I am still anticipating. Especially as week three is the peak week (ooh, that rhymes.)

But alongside the medication was the note that Tecfidera needs to be taken with a decent sized meal with good fats as this has been shown to reduce some of the effects.

I may have taken this a bit too much to heart by scarfing down avocado smoothies and peanut butter like there’s no tomorrow.

But if my increased quantity of foodstuff is so far supporting my tum, then it isn’t helping my waistline.

I had the usual weight and blood pressure test before I saw my nurse and found that I’d put on a few pounds – now, I’m not saying this is purely down to the Tecfidera and may well be a hangover from a foodie and boozy Christmas, but it did make me consider that of the many crappy effects of the disease, weight gain is a massively irritating one.

To be fair, the odds are stacked against us– with a variety of medications directly or indirectly causing the pounds to pile on, the decreased mobility which limits the sphere of exercise or the bouts of fatigue which mean lifting an eyelid is as difficult as lifting a barbell.

But, really, if I’m on the Tec for a while (lymphocytes and liver dependant, obviously) then I can’t keep scoffing and for my waistline and my general health will have to start exercising.

With this in mind, I shall be swimming on Friday – how far and for how long I do not know, but it’s a start.

:: Yummy, yummy, yummy by Ohio Express

Interesting aside: we went to the cinema this Sunday then, thanks to Metro vouchers, to the golden-arched temple of unhealthiness for lunch afterwards. Over my munching I heard the dulcet tones of my neurologist who was presiding over a children’s birthday party. We chatted and I felt compelled to tell him that I don’t eat this stuff often. But then I reflected that if it was okay for him then by almost medical decree, it’s okay for me.