All About MS

Not sure how this relates to your regularly scheduled poker reading (or non-poker reading, whatever you come here for) but I figured this is a topic that is broad enough to write about. Multiple Sclerosis is a tough disease that affects the nervous system and is often confusing to understand. I know of at least two people who have/had it and how hard it is to live with. You may recall that the president's character on The West Wing was living with it (and hiding it from the public) and how it affected him.

MS treatment is expensive and complicated since there is now actual cure for it. It affects people of all ethnicities and backgrounds. MS is considered as an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks normal body tissue. The cells that make myelin, myelin itself and/or the axons (the nerves) are attacked when MS occurs. There are a great number of things that influence one’s immune system, like exposure to foreign substances, stress but also, life itself. While one virus may turn the system off, another one may turn it on.

There are all sorts of treatment, ranging from strong cocktails of drugs to eating a balanced diet. An MS diet doesn't mean you have to starve or go buy shark fins or tiger tails anywhere. And it doesn't by any means guarantee you will feel better. But it can't hurt either.

Learn more about it. Support the fundraising causes by doing an MS walk (or two, or three). And if you know someone who is living with MS be supportive.

Now back to the show. Why don't you try taking the Cacao Challenge?