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…

Physical limitations encompass anything that affects your physical function with regard to movement & stamina. These could range from impairment with walking, to trouble tying your shoelaces, taking a shower, or putting on a shirt.

You may or may not be designated as a disabled person (Disability Warrior!!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾), & you may or may not require a mobility aid. Disability can certainly be invisible, and very often is with MS, hence it is dubbed an “invisible illness.”

You park in the disabled parking spot at the grocery store, and people look at you like you don’t deserve to be there. Some may even challenge you, assuming that you’re depriving “someone who really needs it” of that spot.

On the not so rare occasion, an old lady might say something when you get in a scooter at the grocery store, because you don’t look like you need it.

But you know what you’re dealing with…

Often, physical limitations with MS are the result of chronic pain, muscle spasms, spasticity throwing your whole body mechanics off, muscle pain, pain in the fascia (that white stuff you strip away from meat! Yeah, we have those too), nerve pain (such as sciatica or trigeminal neuralgia), disc issues in the back, or neck, knee pain & other joint pain, and various other causes of aches, pains and limitations in our body.

This is not an easy space to be in, whether your limitations are visible or invisible. 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 functioning and less physical distress.

Before I get into it, I’d like to say this. Please don’t ever be too proud, or ashamed to use a mobility aid, if you need one. They give you some of your independence back & decrease reliance on others.

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

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

Turmeric (anti-inflammatory and antioxidant)

Astaxanthin (best anti-oxidant in my books!!! Extremely potent)

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

Omega-3 (brain function & inflammation)

Omega 6 (brain function & inflammation)

CoQ10/ Ubiquinol (muscle recovery & pain)

Phosphatidylcholine (brain & mitochondrial function)

R-ALA (great for muscle spasms & spasticity, nerve pain, numbness & tingling)

Chelated Magnesium (great for muscle spasms & spasticity)

Equipment

Moist heat-spray water on a heating pad (great for spasms)

Ice pack-sometimes this is what you need for a new injury/pain or inflamed joint (first 24-48 hrs)

At other times your body wants you to alternate one with the other.

Braces-back brace, knee brace etc.

Hydrate

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

Lemon water is great first thing in the morning

Rehabilitate

Regular exercise HIIT-high intensity interval training (or modified to moderate)- and weight training if able, and not just aerobics.

Physical therapy or a trainer are often necessary to get us started with an assessment of where we are, and what we need going forward.

Stretching is underrated in MS, and works wonders for spasms & spasticity especially.

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.