Dr. Pepper, Not What The Doctor Ordered For MS

I have posted before about how much my wife loves her Dr. Pepper. This has been an ongoing battle for her to break the addiction, but the other day she had a totally different issue. She has been watching her diet and controlling her fat intake, just like when she was on the Swank diet, but she still drinks a Dr. Pepper occasionally. She went to the coke machine a few days ago to get a drink for me and for her. She set her Dr. Pepper on the top of the coke machine and when she reached down to get my drink out of the machine, the can fell off the top and onto the side of her head. It really stung her and the area immediately bumped up and hurt. Within 30 minutes not only was it hurting but the whole side of her head was going numb. Within another 30 minutes or so, the side of her face was loosing feeling.

All of this over a Dr. Pepper! We both knew that she needed to do something or the numbness would continue to spread and cause more issues. She called a new massage therapist she is trying and went to see her that afternoon. After the massage, she had all her feeling back and was doing much better. It still amazes both of us that something as simple as a soda can falling on your head would start her body to reacting, but we have seen so many weird things through the years that we aren't surprised, just amazed. She has been more careful with the soda machine now, but it was just another reminder that something simple can create bigger issues if left untreated.

No MS Symptoms During Pregnancy

I've been thinking through all of the different situations I have seen with my wife's MS, and one of the strangest was during pregnancy. When my wife first became pregnant she thought she was depressed due to the emotional swings and the crying. After about a week of that, she decided to see if she was pregnant. I'll never forget her sharing with me that she was pregnant. I was excited and scared out of my mind all at the same time. After we found out, she noticed the depression went away along with her MS. She had normal pregnancy issues like weird food cravings and morning sickness, but she didn't have any MS problems.

I think it took a little while for me to notice it, but her fatigue was gone and she generally felt better. We were both amazed at how well she felt and how she didn't have any numbness, fatigue, tingling, eye problems or other common MS issues. This always intrigued me because it was the most normal 9 months of our marriage. I have spoken with many doctors and MS patients and many of them have seen the same thing. So, why does this happen? Some of the doctors have talked about the hormone shifts in the body and how they could be affecting the MS. I wonder now if this has something to do with the vascular issues in CCSVI. Could the changes in the body during pregnancy affect the veins and how well they function? I have no idea, but it sure poses an interesting set of questions. Maybe we'll learn more as the research keeps coming out at the multiple Universities in the US performing trials.