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[calmwithkari]

Flying with MS

As with just about anything where MS is concerned, planning ahead is the key when it comes to air travel. I’m flying a lot more frequently these days, and I’ve had both great experiences and poor ones. It’s often out of my control which one it will be on a given travel day (much like with MS), but I find that planning as much as I can and controlling what I can helps me feel better about the…

[calmwithkari]

Art Therapy Thoughts: I'm the expert on my body.

I am extremely grateful to have a lot of workshops and activities available to me through the health care system to which my neurology office belongs — they offer exercise classes both in person and over Zoom, art therapy, music therapy, and yoga, to name a few, and it’s all free. I’ve participated in a good amount of them now since I started seeing my neurologist last year, and I’m sure I’ll be…

[calmwithkari]

Attitude of Gratitude

Do you have a gratitude practice? Want to know more about what it is and why it's important? Check out today's blog entry.

As human beings, we’re wired to focus on the negative — it’s a trait that’s kept our species alive because it helps us avoid danger, similarly to how our body’s stress responses were adapted as survival techniques. However, much like stress, our tendency to get a little too wrapped up in the negative can leads to a corresponding negative impact on our health — particularly mental health. How can…

[calmwithkari]

Mindful Moments: Stress and Anxiety

Today, I'm trying something a little different -- I've got a guided meditation recording for you on the blog. Enjoy!

After last week’s entry about the relationship of stress to MS progression, I wanted to try something a little different this week and record a guided meditation focused on releasing stress and anxiety. If you’d like to give it a try, first set yourself up in a comfortable space where you can relax fully but remain awake. I prefer to lie down, but sitting up is an option as well if lying down…

[calmwithkari]

Processing Thoughts About DMTs

I'm doing a little "thinking out loud" in this one, considering all the factors that go into choosing (or changing) a disease modifying therapy.

Other than treating symptoms, disease modifying therapies (or DMTs for short) are pretty much the only way to “treat” multiple sclerosis as of the present moment. While they’re not a cure, the idea is to slow or stop progression of the disease by preventing the body from mounting an immune attack against the central nervous system. There’s currently a wide variety available to choose from, which…

[calmwithkari]

Stress, MS, and a Little Bit of Mindfulness

New research is out on the relationship of stress to MS progression and disability. In this entry, I break down my thoughts about why this is important and how to take action to break the cycle.

It’s no secret that stress can have a negative impact on many aspects of someone’s health, both mental and physical. But with an autoimmune condition like multiple sclerosis, the effects can have an even more lasting impact. Because stress can trigger disease activity — an MS relapse — it can lead to disability or faster progression of the disease, something I know I certainly don’t want to put…

[calmwithkari]

Meal Planning & Prep with a Chronic Illness

One of the first things that goes out the window for me on a high fatigue day is the desire to prepare a meal — particularly when it’s dinner time and it’s already been a long day. I’ve been dealing with this fatigue for several years now, and I feel like I’ve tried just about everything when it comes to meal planning. I’ve also done plenty of beating myself up over why my best intentions often…

[calmwithkari]

Low-Effort Mood Boosts

Those of us who suffer from a chronic illness know the feeling of waking up in the morning feeling like you might as well have not slept at all, all too well. For me, those tend to be the days when my mood gets dragged down by the heavy sensation of the fatigue in my body and brain. Pretty soon after, I’m stuck in a vicious cycle that’s hard to break and certainly doesn’t do anything positive for…

[calmwithkari]

Trying Ampyra

Since I also want to use my blog to share my own personal experiences (and I've benefited greatly from reading about others'), I wanted to share my journey with my first symptom treating medication, Ampyra.

Now that I’ve been on a disease modifying therapy (DMT) for a few months and had my first follow-up MRI, which was stable, it was time to start trying to treat some of my symptoms. I made a list before my neurologist appointment of the three things I felt were having the biggest impact on my quality of life — heat sensitivity, fatigue, and dysthesia (tingling, burning, basically sensations that…

[calmwithkari]

Keeping Cool with MS

Heat sensitivity was one of the first symptoms I had, and it’s the primary one that pointed me in the direction of MS. It’s frustrating because it makes it difficult to be outside, which is an essential part of so many summer activities. I find I’m sensitive to just about anything above 80 degrees, especially if it’s humid, and any rise in my core body temperature at all brings with it increased…

[calmwithkari]

Restorative Yoga

Curious about using yoga to help calm your nervous system? Restorative yoga might be your jam. Read this post to find out more!

When we think of yoga, our mental picture might feature a physical posture — maybe downward facing dog, or tree pose, or perhaps a “fancy” arm balance. (Especially if you’re on Instagram!) But the umbrella of yoga includes a breadth of different styles of practices — like hatha yoga, vinyasa, and yin, just to name a few. While hatha and vinyasa might look more like what most of us picture when we…

[calmwithkari]

The Journey

Several years ago, I had a winter I have since referred to as “the winter when I contracted every illness known to man.” Hyperbole, yes, but that’s honestly how it felt to get over one virus after another, over and over, never feeling like I fully recovered before the next one hit. I worked with the public at the time, which made it even easier to pick up random germs, and so I thought that was…

[calmwithkari]

Testing... 1, 2, 3...

Calm with Kari is a new blog focused on sharing my journey of self care as I navigate my multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

Is this thing on? Truth is, I’m not quite sure how to do this anymore, but I’m trying not to let that (and my raging case of imposter syndrome) keep me from actually doing it. I’ve had a handful of blogs over the years, dating all the way back to the early 2000s. (Remember LiveJournal?) For some reason, back then, the voice in my head telling me that no one cares what I have to say was either a…