Menacing: Describing multiple sclerosis from A to Z

When I was a kid, I used to enjoy reading comic books. One of my favorites was Dennis the Menace. The TV show was cute too (running from 1959-1963). Here’s a sample of the show:

Personally, I liked the comics better. Many years later, a full-length movie came out, starring Walter Matthau, Mason Gamble, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Plowright, and Lea Thompson.

Anyway, that kid was mischievous. He sure knew how to stir up trouble, but his antics were funny. (OK, Dennis’ shenanigans may not have been so comical to his parents or to the folks next door.) Dennis the Menace may have wreaked havoc on the neighbors (as well as his own parents), but he wasn’t really such a menace – at least, not in a malevolent way. Not in the more literal sense of the word.

What does menacing mean?

Dictionaries define it as aggressive, alarming, bullying, imperiling, intimidatory, looming, ominous, potentially dangerous, sinister, threatening, and unsafe.

The word “menacing” comes from the Latin word “minaccia,” which point to a threat or a sharp point that projects outward. A true menace is mean-spirited, acting from evil intent with the purpose of causing ill effects or damage.

How does this apply to multiple sclerosis?

Look at an MSer’s MRI brain scan. See all those eerie white patches? Maybe the whole thing looks like an inkblot test. The pattern may resemble all kinds of things:

• an angry face
• a banged-up bruise
• a brewing storm
• a creepy creature
• a drawing with blurred lines
• an erupting volcano
• a hairy bug
• a raging sea
• a sloppy spill
• a tangled web
• or: _____________________.

Whatever those white spots (or blotches) on the MSer’s brain MRI look like, doctors call them “lesions.” That’s just another word for “scars.” In the MS warrior, lesions are battle scars. And they appear enraged. Maybe even scary – especially when contrast dye is used during the scanning.

On our best days, we might look past all this. But when the more miserable MS days come around, we totally get it.

MS is menacing. And it's not the cute kind.

The MS MonSter lurks, even when he doesn’t strike. We know he is there, creeping around in the background, even if he knows a cure is coming.

Image/s:

April A to Z Challenge 2016 logo – fair use

 Adapted from public domain artwork

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Ay-ay-ay! Celebrating another unchanged annual brain MRI

Oh, baby. Thank God. I love a good medical report!

Just had the whole MS workup again, including the annual magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) thing and a neurological exam and a consult with the multiple sclerosis specialist.

And my MRI shows no change – for several years! That is great news!

The unchanged MRI does not indicate I no longer have MS. It doesn’t mean I don’t have relapses or ongoing nagging MS symptoms. I do.

But it does mean my brain shows no new MS lesions (scars) from the MonSter’s attacks.

Good news indeed. I’ll take it.

This happy medical report makes the pre-dawn hospital arrival and the 45 minutes of MRI tunnel clanging and banging and table shaking well worth it.

Image/s:

Milwaukee’s Bronze Fonz Statue

Public domain photo

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Barefoot, pregnant and MS?

Hey, MSers. How many of you are women? OK, how many of you ladies were diagnosed as expectant, new, or young mothers?

The Mayo Clinic says women are twice as likely as men to have multiple sclerosis. The National MS Society suggests it may be two to three times more prevalent among women than men. Other medical sources place the female-to-male ratio closer to 4:1.

Statistically, most MSers tend to be diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50. In fact, many childbearing women discover they have multiple sclerosis during or after pregnancy.

Doesn’t sound like a picnic, huh?

It’s not like medical experts are saying pregnancy causes MS. But what timing.

An adoptive mother, I was diagnosed with MS a bit later in life, but the MRIs showed older lesions. That explains a lot about some difficult physical symptoms and seemingly inexplicable health seasons I endured during my kids’ early years.

At the time, doctors pointed to unknown injuries, food poisoning, miscellaneous infections, eyestrain, fatigue, stress, and other random possibilities.

Those theories never panned out, but the issues resolved, so life went on.

Certainly, I’ve known ladies who developed clearly diagnosed MS in their 20s and 30s, while they were having and raising their babies.

It’s like the stork drops off an infant … along with a whopping episode of optic neuritis, a tingling limb or two, and a touch of vertigo.

Betcha didn’t register for MS at Babies ‘R Us, Macy’s, or Target. Nope. None of us did.

Image/s:

Girl in Sunglasses –

WP ClipArt

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