We all have been where you are...just sending you hugs and hope you're better soon.

I'm trying to remember that I will eventually start to feel better, this will pass. I think I just enjoyed that two and half years since my last relapse a little too much, got too comfortable.

Thanks for understanding and letting me know that it is okay to be weak and to cry and to be angry.

I'm off work for the next week and a half and I plan on sleeping and taking it easy and trying to get a grip on my emotions.

I do have a lot of good things in my life and I know that I can't let this beat me, no matter how much I just want to succumb to it right now.

Thank God for this place... I mean that... Thank you, God.

amen, Momma !!

Blondi, developing coping skills is a lifetime job, an ART, and a fine thing to pursue.

trying to find the lighter side of things... or mocking the symptoms (ie: I had a "p*ssy" day on Sunday, had to wash my clothes in the sink, wah wah! )

joking about it helps... singing songs helps (Foreigner's Double Vision, or Joni Mitchell's Help Me, I'm Falling, or I forget-who-it's by... I'm So Dizzy, or Paul Simon's Slip Sliding Away, you get the picture...)

my favorite thing to do is enshrined in the Moody Blues song, Nights in White Satin, where he sings about Letters I've written, never meaning to send... that's what I do, I write it all out, and GET it all out of my system, so I don't take it out on those I love accidentally.

I practice an attitude of gratitude, like Kitty, where I focus on what's POSITIVE, and what things I CAN do, instead of what I've lost...

and sometimes I just whine about things, (like not being able to play the piano anymore, or backpack in the wilderness, or go skiing, or whatever...), and everybody gives me a hug, and I feel all warm and fuzzy...

but, oddly enough, the thing that helps me MOST is reaching out to others when THEY feel down, or are hurting, or have some cluster-mess brewing.

just taking the focus OFF myself, and helping others... works miracles.

this afternoon, a neighbor came over to buy three chickens for a Christmas family feast, and while helping to catch them, I slipped and FELL in the mud, and had to be hosed OFF...

and instead of crying, I started LAUGHING... because whaddaya gonna DO ???

(((Blondie)))
We all try to put a positive spin on things, but really, if you could see thru the computer screen..Eeeek..
Humor is a huge part of not giving in, but even that doesn't help all the time.
Honestly, I'd be concerned about anyone who could go thru a flair with a big smile and positive attitude. That person (if they exist) has some big issues, I promise you .
The chocolate/wine/punching bag combo sounds like a winner to me..May have to try that one.
Hope you're feeling better soon, and can enjoy your holiday!
Blessings,
Kris

I discovered a chocolate over the weekend that I think could cure the common cold it tastes so good. I was at the bookstore, and they had these pieces of chocolate candy at the registers, so I bought a couple for my mom and I.

OMG! It was so good! It's Lindor Truffles by Lindt, milk chocolate. (I've had the dark chocolate, and they're very tasty too!) http://www.lindtlindortruffles.com/

I bought a couple of bags of them yesterday to put in my Christmas candy dish. I dont think they're going to last till Christmas. My dad and I keep eating them. I might have to go get more.

But, really, it was so much better than the Hershey's Chocolate that I usually want to stuff my face with when I'm starving for something chocolaty! The Lindor Truffles have just the right flavor of chocolate that I dont feel like I have to stuff my face with them. I think it's my new favorite brand of chocolate.

I saw on the website link that I linked a few paragraphs back that they have an orange flavor. I'm going to have to find a couple (dozen) bags of that. I absolutely love orange flavored chocolate. MmmmMmmmm!

I hate this stinking, thieving disease. Sending hugs to you and don't ever forget that you are not alone.

Blondie

This board is the first place I come to in the mornings, and I come back often during the day. I have learned a lot here. People have made me cry, smile, and laugh out loud. I read and post on three other MS forums, but NT by far is the best.

For the past six years, my MS has been going downhill. As each new thing develops I wallow for awhile in self-pity, then I try to figure out how to either make it better, get around it, or live with it.

My biggest supporter has been my husband. We were married two years when I was diagnosed with MS. Many a time he has pulled me up, physically and emotionally. Then last December, Montana came into our lives. This big, black Lab brought me out of the shell I was living in.

I used to read avidly, usually had three books going at once. ON made it uncomfortable to read, so I started going online more. I even started a blog, which has turned out to be loads of fun. I got on MySpace (got my DH hooked on it, too) and Facebook.

I listen to music (Sugarland is my top favorite), I'm knitting a lap robe for a friend who's in a wheelchair and a stocking cap for my grandson.

I used to love walking and hiking. Those are the two things I regret the most that MS took away from me.

I've got a lovely extended family. Visiting them has made the effort of travel worthwhile. They are so good to me and for me. Every one of them is physically fit and very active. I can't go walking or hiking with them, but they always manage to include me in something while we're together. Like strolling on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, or riding the ski-lift up the mountain in NH. They always figure out something I can do with them, and I love them for it.

So, you get knocked down and somehow you keep getting back up again. You always have to get back up again.

Erin, check out THIS choccy !!!

the first totally guilt-free chocolate, it melts in your MOUTH, and it's good for Belize too!

How a £1.50 chocolate bar saved a Mayan community from destruction

Green & Black's Maya Gold, the first British Fairtrade product, is more than an organic chocolate bar - it's the livelihood for a whole district of Belize.

(snipped)

Suddenly, it occurs to me that Maya Gold - the name given by Green & Black's to its orange-and-spice chocolate bar, made with beans grown by Cyrila Cho and the other 940 members of the Toledo Cacao Growers' Association (TCGA) - is more than just a slick marketing gimmick alluding to a semi-mythical past. It may evoke images of ruined temples, ancient peoples and lost civilisations, but the name is also rooted in the here and now, a tribute to the Maya who produce cacao today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...rink.features1

sorry for the interruption, Blondi, but the second Erin mentioned "orange" chocolate, I remembered how I cheer MYSELF right the heck up... LOL !!

Ooooo! Chocolate!

Gotta love orange chocolate! (when desperate, I buy orange flavored soda pop, like Orange Crush, or Sunkist, and drink that while eating a Hershey bar)

First time I had chocolate and orange mixed together was at a restaurant in England that was next door to the hotel we stayed at. Love the combination now! I have to go buy some orange chocolate now, if I can find any.

and to try to keep on topic...I'm not feeling so positive with my MS today. I keep tripping over stuff today, like some snow...my feet...a piece of yarn on the floor. There's some invisible troll apparently trying it's best to screw up my Christmas by trying to make me fall down. This is not cool.

Maybe some orange chocolate will help? I know it cant hurt!

Yeah, I get mad. I don't usually cry. But, sometimes. I cry when I talk to Shared Solutions about how much I hate Copaxone and its side effects. I cry when I light into my DH for treating me differently sometimes, like I don't have a brain and can't make my own adult decisions. When I am not in a flare, I function pretty normally. But, he finds it difficult to get out of his hyper-vigilant stage sometimes. He's been better lately.

I get mad more often than I cry. And I feel sorry for myself when I have to go on disability. Or, when I am about to take a part time job that doesn't pay much over minimum wage. I think I'll enjoy the job, but if I had options comparable to what I've had in the past, I'd make different choices.

I get mad when I have flares and hospitalizations (2 in 2008 -- I spent 4 weeks out my year in the hospital. Almost missed my DD's HS graduation.)

I with I could respond more positively. But, this year has been yuck. I don't have much positive to say.

Sorry. This is just not the direction that I pictured my life going at age 46.

~ Faith