Hi poochie,

I don't know about reversing MS damage--I haven't heard of that. But there are work-arounds you can develop as time goes by and you observe how your MS behaves. Even if you're no longer working at a job, you still have things you want to do and need to do, and the problem is how to get away with them without causing MS symptoms to kick up.

I kept on wanting to cook for many years, for instance. I liked to make a recipe and freeze individual servings for later use, or to make a couple of loaves of bread and freeze them. Every day I made a salad. I did various types of eggs for breakfast (poached, scrambled, fried, etc.).

The problem was how to get away with standing around in the kitchen, which might be hot, while needing to get at things in cupboards, stir, chop, peel, rinse, mince, whisk, and baste--then clean it all up afterwards. I'd tire out in the midst of the process, my bladder would start to act up, my legs would go all heavy, and my vision would get cloudy. I might have to rest in my wheelchair for a while.

I got a rolling table with adjustable height and moved it and my wheelchair into the kitchen and set up all of the supplies I needed (cutting board, knife, peeler, plastic bags, plus the fruits or veggies for the recipe) and just sat there to do the tasks.

The kitchen wasn't really big enough for all of this and so often I moved the operation into the living room. Not so easy to clean up things I dropped on the carpet as on the kitchen floor but I tried to be careful.

After years of this kind of thing--plus planning the bread-making operation so that I could devote the entire day to it with absolutely no other jobs (no laundry, no cleaning, no ironing, no errands, nothing)--I gradually moved on to the point where I hardly cook much at all any more. No more daily salads, no more bread-making, no more recipes. My main meal is something from the freezer or a package.

This simplification has given me energy I didn't know I had. My energy was being used up in the effort of cooking--and let's not forget dishwashing and general kitchen maintenance. If you cook, grease droplets get sprayed around. This happens far less if you don't eat meat. I haven't been near meat in 30 years and have noticed how clean the kitchen stays. I hardly ever have to clean my oven.

I mention all of this just as an example of how you can get away with doing some things if you try to stay flexible and are willing to keep changing the way you do them so you can sneak past the MS, in a way.

How long have you been doing the physical therapy? Every time I've had it, it's been a course of 8 sessions (over 4-6 weeks) and at first it was difficult and didn't seem to help much. Or maybe you need a different physical therapist. The right balance exercises should be of some help but you do have to keep up with them regularly and make sure you're doing them the right way. A good physical therapist pays attention to how you're breathing during the exercises and whether you're maintaining your form.