ALL ABOUT MS
The role of the family (Part 17)
Need
help: from whom to ask for?
Contact with a neurologist
is necessary from the diagnosis of MS. In addition, it is necessary to
cooperate with other professionals who are involved in the treatment of MS
patients, such as physiatrists, psychologists, social workers,
physiotherapists, nurses. Associations with MS can provide useful information
and support. There is a wide array of different types of societies and
associations that are not directly targeted at MS, but they can be a refuge and
a source of energy necessary for further life. Support groups for families with
MS suffer a great deal of help. Talking with others who have a sick member
helps in several ways. It is possible to share with them the current problems
and to hear how they have managed in similar situations. Often, it only helps
to know that there are others with similar problems, which reduces the sense of
isolation. Help and support from friends is always welcome. Help should be
sought openly and directly.
Emotional reactions in patients
with MS
In addition to the physical
symptoms associated with MS, the patient also has a number of changes in
feelings, behavior and response. These are changes in emotional life. They can
occur as a result of the demyelinating process itself, may be reactions to the
announced diagnosis, but also the consequence of the use of some drugs such as,
for example, steroids. Most commonly these effects overlap, so each division of
emotional reactions to the groups would be incorrect and incomplete. As MS is a
disease with very diverse symptoms, so emotional reactions differ by species,
duration and severity from the patient to the diseased. Sometimes they occur
individually, sometimes at the same time, and in some cases they originate from
one another.
Some of the emotional
changes observed in patients with MS are depressive reactions, suffering from
loss of abilities caused by disease, negation of the disease, stress and
reaction to a stressful situation, feelings of guilt, anxiety and anxiety,
emotional lability and a changeable mood, inability to control emotional
reaction, behavioral disorders and inappropriate behavior. The above-mentioned
review of emotional reactions in MS is only an attempt to enumerate them, which
does not mean that they have to appear in this order or that they have to
respond to the life of each person at all.
The depressive reaction is a
very common and even common response to the diagnosis. It follows the feeling
of sadness, squandering, hopelessness, loss of life energy. Such a mood may
last from several hours to several days, even up to several months, when a
picture of clinical depression is already taking place. People with MS, as well
as their loved ones, should know that depression, in its various forms, is one
of the common followers of this disease. Research suggests that depression is
more common in obese than MS, not only in relation to the general population,
but also in patients with other chronic illnesses. It is not followed only by a
person with a weak character, nor is it something embarrassing, which should be
covered. One of the mistakes is that it is a state that can be controlled by
the power of will or decision. Depression often represents a disturbed chemical
balance in the brain and can occur at any time, even when everything is going
to die in life. The most effective treatment is a combination of psychotherapy
and regular prescribed medication against depression. The importance of talking
and supporting other people with similar experiences is not negligible, but in
depressive reactions it is only a supplement to clinical treatment.
Suffering for the loss of
previous abilities occurs occasionally in people with MS due to the disability
to continue working and living in a way that has so far appeared. At some
point, after an aggravation and a new attack of the disease, there may be a
problem with walking, vision, and the like, which affects working ability as
well as dealing with different activities. The experience of loss results in a
strong sense of sadness, pain and suffering associated with a major change in
the image of oneself. The person does not see himself or can think of himself
in the way in the past. She suffers, pity for herself, mourns for lost
activities, which may resemble depression. However, the difference between
these reactions exists, because suffering is a time-limited emotional reaction,
which means it has its beginning and an even more important end. A person who
has experienced suffering can enjoy life again and in life's activities in
which her satisfaction was so far as far as she permits, in contrast to the
depression which prevents her from doing so, since she is more persistent, more
difficult to return and significantly draws energy. No matter how pain and
suffering are difficult, at the moment they survive, they make the person even
more powerful, because they represent a crisis and only a transient phase from
which comes out with a more realistic picture of oneself, which enables the
newly confronted with reality, whatever it was. Suffering for the loss of
previous abilities is one of the rare conditions that is treated in time
without treatment even though in the process of this process, conversation with
other people with a full understanding of the environment has an extraordinary
role.
Neglecting the disease occurs
in a number of patients, not particularly large, especially in the initial
stages, more often in men than in women. A person refuses to admit, above all
to himself, and then to others that he is ill. Depression is missing. This reaction
occurs more often in those who, even before the illness, tend to react to
unpleasant psychological conditions by neglecting them. This does not mean that
denial is reported to people who are superficial. On the contrary, it should be
borne in mind that these people's illness leads to a state in which the reality
is unbearable, so the person is struggling by using all his strengths, keeping
the earlier image of himself, fearing even the image of himself so that it
becomes even more powerful and far from reality. In this way, reality is
virtually denied. The escape from reality is the defense of the most pressing
and dangerous. It is happening to those who pretend to be cured. Without losing
hope, a sincere and open conversation with a neurologist and counselor is
advised, with close people. Denial and non-acceptance of illness and treatment
may result in a worsening of the disease.
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