MS + X = Y2K

One thing that I have found to be true with multiple sclerosis--having had a couple years now to really appreciate the finer points--is that ones body is not up to dealing with anything else on top of it. A simple head cold, for instance, will cause a total system collapse--Y2K to the corporeal body, only not theory this time, but the real thing. Too many switches are already flipped, too many numbers have already rolled--BAM!, the whole organism crashes to a grinding halt.

And by anything, I do mean anything--the cold virus, yes; but also the toothache, the sprained ankle, the broken bone, the migraine headache. Each and any additional malady will be too much for MS to live with.

A toothache, for instance, is hard enough to deal with on its own merits, right? But adding it in with MS is like trying to load a grand piano onto a little red wagon. Nope, it's just not gonna fly.

Before MS we were accustomed to the rather convenient arrangement wherein a toothache would involve a tooth--maybe even the entire maxillary or mandibular set, maybe even the jaw. Now with MS the pain must go beyond the tooth, into the neck, into the legs, into the feet, for Christ's sake. The toothache must be accompanied not only by throbbing, but by body-wide exhaustion and increasing confusion.

Now try explaining this to someone else.

You fell asleep twice because of a toothache? Yeah, right. You say your tooth is making your elbow hurt? Okay . . . .

On second thought, don't bother trying to explain it.