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…

Sleep issues in MS encompass challenges such as falling asleep, staying asleep, frequent awakenings, and everything in between.

Sleep is a gift

You do not know how much sleep is a gift, until it becomes challenging to settle down and get a good night’s sleep.

Then you wake up the next day not well rested, which bleeds into your energy, your mood, and your brain function.

When insomnia becomes chronic and cumulative, these issues are compounded.

Your ability to think is impaired. Functioning at work is a challenge.

Sleep is so important because your body heals when you sleep.

Particularly, your brain detoxes when you sleep. It was discovered not too long ago that there are channels called the glymphatic channels (lymphatic channels in the brain), which open up during deep sleep, to clean out waste that accumulated during the day in the normal functioning of the brain.

When you don’t regularly get 7-9 hrs of sleep every night, toxins build up in your brain and cause harm. Some of these toxins are linked to neurodegenerative diseases.

Sleep deprivation is as bad as alcohol intoxication, and has caused many fatal vehicle accidents, or workplace mishaps.

Do you lay in bed wide awake and can’t get to sleep like this lady? What happens at work the next day?

I’ve got you!

This is not an easy space to be in, whatever end of the insomnia 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…

We can get you sleeping peacefully like homegirl here. 

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.

Let’s get you sleeping and cleaning out those brain toxins…

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

Sleep Supplements

Essential Oils (Lavendar, Chamomile, Citrus, Ylang Ylang and more. Combos are great)

Herbal Teas (Valerian Root, Peppermint, Chamomile and more. Combos work best)

Sublingual Melatonin (for trouble falling asleep)

5-HTP (for help staying asleep or for anxiety keeping you awake; but not if you are taking an SSRI for anxiety or depression**)

Brain Magnesium (magnesium threonate)

General MS Supplements

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

Phosphatidylcholine (for brain & mitochondrial function)

Omega-3 (brain function & inflammation)

Omega 6 (brain function & inflammation)

Turmeric (antioxidant & anti-inflammatory)

Hydrate

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

Lemon water is great first thing in the morning

Sleep hygiene practices

Give yourself 7-9 hours of sleep every night

Avoid watching TV, or doing anything other than sleep or intimacy while in bed

Avoid bright light close to bedtime.

Drink water earlier in the day so as to decrease chances of needing to wake up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Rehabilitate

Regular exercise HIIT-high intensity interval training (or modified to moderate)- and weight training if able, and not just aerobics. This should be in the daytime is important for good sleep at night

Brain exercise (apps such as Luminosity, crossword puzzles)

Reduce stress

Get 8+ hours of sleep every night

Yoga (search for yoga nidra on You Tube, thank me later!)

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.