You are a survivor!

Wait! You didn’t know you were a survivor? 😃

Well, you are. Let that sink in. The fact that you took this quiz to learn how to get better despite all you’ve been through tells me you are a survivor. Somewhere deep down, you think you can feel better. Scratch that. You know you can feel better.

That means you’re exactly my kind of person.

Someone who doesn’t sit back and let life just happen to them, but is willing to go the extra mile, to change the course of their health.

Let’s break this down…

Mood issues in MS encompass challenges such as anxiety and depression.

Your heart is racing and you can’t get it to slow down. It’s happening regularly. You’re scared to do things you used to be able to do without batting an eyelid. You can’t get your mind to shut off and relax.

You’re anxious about everything.

Or you’re sad all the time and can’t shake it. You’re crying at the drop of a hat. You don’t even know why you’re sad, but that feeling in the pit of your stomach never seems to go away.

Or the toll of MS is just too much, and weighing heavily on you.

You don’t want to speak on the phone anymore…

You don’t want to go out either…

Even at home, you don’t want to get out of bed…

You certainly don’t want to leave the house….

This is not an easy space to be in, whatever end of the mood challenges spectrum you fall into.

I feel you. I see you. I can actually relate (and not just saying so! 🤗). And I want you to know that you are not alone.

And…

There is hope!

There is hope because there are things that you can do to get you started on your road to improved cognitive functioning and less distress.

There are small tweaks you can make to alleviate or lessen these challenges.

**********

But first of all, I’d like to suggest seeing a

therapist,

psychologist or a

psychiatrist.

And if you’d rather speak to someone you know first, speak with your

primary care doctor/ GP.

There are also help phone lines that you can call into.

If you ever feel like ending it, please call the

suicide hotline at

888-273-8255 in the US,

or check your local listing for your country

NONE of what I’m going to suggest below are meant to replace proper evaluation, diagnosis and care from a mental health medical professional.

These are merely possible adjunctive care for mild short-term mood issues.

But first, who am I?

Hey there 🥰 My name is Dr. Folake Taylor, and I’m an internal medicine doctor, turned MS Recovery Expert & Educator. In 2021, I stopped practicing medicine, to help women with multiple sclerosis thrive with fewer symptoms, and less disability, through a holistic lifestyle and identifying root cause.

I live with primary progressive multiple sclerosis PPMS, diagnosed in 2016, after several decades of misdiagnosed symptoms. I was already disabled for 2 years by the time of diagnosis.

By applying holistic modalities, I was able to recover from needing a scooter and a walker for mobility while away from home, to now being able to walk without those assistive devices.

I have also been able to de-escalate medication reliance to include stopping Ocrevus under the supervision of my neurologist.

Subsequently, I created an online program & membership platform, to help disseminate the knowledge that I have acquired over the years of my recovery, so that other women, especially with progressive MS, will have an easier time accessing the information that they need, to aid in their recovery.

There was no real blueprint for primary progressive MS, and I had to hunt and peck all over the “interwebs” to find the information that I needed, and put them all together. Moreover, the people with PPMS that I read about were tired of living and looking for ways to end their life.

Not encouraging at all…

That was when I decided that I would figure out how to get better, and be here to raise my child, who was 6 years old when I first got disabled in 2014.

I am convinced that it is my mission to walk this path, so that others do not have to also walk the same convoluted, challenging, and tortuous path.

And I strongly believe that nobody should depend solely on conventional medicine to manage their MS symptoms in this day and age.

Now on to the good stuff…

Here are a few recommendations…

 Because most MS symptoms are somewhat related to inflammation in the body, anything one can do to reduce inflammation, as well as combat oxidative stress, helps improve physical function.

If you just asked, “What is oxidative stress?” No worries, I will break that down in a resource that you will soon have access to (hint: open your emails from me!). I digress.

As a good place to start, there are tweaks we could make in our lifestyle, such as ensuring we are eating the right foods & taking the right supplements. 

In addition, there are specific recommendations based on what the exact physical limitation is.

Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant & detox foods (mostly veggies!!!)

Turmeric Curcumin

Ginger

Garlic

Onions

Broccoli

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Brussels Sprouts

Kale and other leafy green vegetables

Brightly colored vegetables that look like the rainbow

Fruit, especially berries

Good quality proteins

“Let food be thy medicine. And let thy medicine be food” — Hippocrates

Gut healers

Bone broth

Collagen

Probiotics

Brain healers

Good fats such as-

Avocado

Salmon

Coconut oil

Olive oil

Avoid highly inflammatory foods

Gluten

Dairy

Reduce or eliminate

Processed sugars

Processed foods

Supplements

Phosphatidylcholine (for brain & mitochondrial function)

Omega-3 (brain function & inflammation)

Omega 6 (brain function & inflammation)

Vitamin D3+K2 (bone health, pain, immune function, brain function)

Brain Magnesium (magnesium threonate)

5-HTP (sleep, mild mood issues, but not if you are taking an SSRI antidepressant/ antianxiety such as Prozac, Lexapro)**

L-Theanine (sleep, anxiety)

Turmeric (antioxidant & anti-inflammatory)

Hydrate

With WATER!!! This helps your body function & detoxify

Lemon water is great first thing in the morning

Rehabilitate

Brain exercise (apps such as Luminosity, crossword puzzles)

Regular exercise HIIT-high intensity interval training (or modified to moderate)- and weight training if able, and not just aerobics. The endorphins released during exercise help lift one’s mood.

Reduce stress

Get 8+ hours of sleep every night

Yoga

Pray/ meditate

Practice gratitude

Mindfulness

Breathwork

Create & enforce boundaries

You don’t have to do all the things. Pick what can fit into your lifestyle and work on it.

Now, if you’re a super-achiever who already does everything I just recommended, yay you! There’s a lot more where that came from. Trust me. 👌🏾

DISCLAIMER!!!

Lastly, check with your doctor before implementing anything new. I am NOT your doctor, though I am a doctor.

I am purely educating and not giving you medical advice, and it is certainly not tailored specifically to you because I don’t have enough information on you to do that.