"With multiple sclerosis, which I’ll probably just say MS from now on, it’s an autoimmune condition, so it impacts your brain and your spinal cord. And with the condition, your immune system mistakenly attacks myelin, and that’s the protective coating around your nerves that enables those brain signals and messages to travel quickly along the nerve cells. So, when this happens to the nerves, it leaves lesions and disrupts the signals, so that causes various different symptoms depending on exactly where the lesions are in your brain and your spine."
Lisa Nice has multiple sclerosis (MS). She joins Chantal and Paul to explain how the autoimmune and neurodegenerative condition affects her. We also discuss her employer, Comic Relief's approach to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Diagnosed late in life, it came as a shock, and it took a while for Lisa to accept her diagnosis, which is relapsing-remitting. There are many symptoms of MS, and Lisa shares the ones she has, how she manages them, her treatment, and the adjustments she has had to make at work and in her social life.
Footdrop – the individual has difficulty lifting the front part of the foot (i.e. the front of your foot may drag on the ground as you walk)
Allodynia – pain due to a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain (i.e. a light touch causing pain when it wouldn't normally)
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Hosted by Chantal Boyle and Paul Shriever, Hidden Disabilities Sunflower.