Daily Work-A-Rounds

On this page are daily work-a-round tips from MS patients who like most of us, had to alter the way they do daily tasks. Most likely this has happened by default because we can no longer do things the way we used to be before we were diagnosed.  Perhaps you'll find a tip or two that will help you to get through your day more easily!

Remember..
You know you can still perform daily tasks...
Maybe not like before MS but, you can still do it with these daily tips!!

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“Life Hacks” for MSer's
People living with MS are definitely in need of some life hacks to help us save some time, energy, and maybe even maintain some independence. This is a comprehensive list of some hacks that can make your life living with MS a little bit easier.

This is a list of some hacks that Occupational Therapists and other MSer's to use Each of these products can be purchased online making them extra convenient to find!

The Bathroom
Is where most of us start and end our day, and there are a few ways to make things go a little more smoothly:

* Long-handled scrub brushes – The long handle means minimal bending and twisting in the tub and/or shower.

*Hair-washing trays – These allows you or a caregiver to easily wash hair in the sink while the recipient of the suds sits in a chair or wheelchair. It’s also great because you don't need to bend your neck at a painful angle to avoid making a mess.

*Walk-in tubs – These can be an expensive modification, but they are great for avoiding falls while trying to step in and out of the tub.

*Squatty-potty stool – This is a device that wraps around the toilet, which you place your feet on so you are in a squatting position over the toilet. Fellow MSers swear it’s really effective at helping alleviate constipation!

*Dexterity kits – Often include an adapter for a toothbrush, making the handle much thicker and therefore much easier to grasp.

*Shower chairs – These can make getting cleaned up a lot safer and easier.

* Toilet safety rails – They make adjustable, removable bars that fit right around the toilet you already have; no expensive home modification is necessary!

*Hands-free hairdryer holders/stands  – These are so much easier on the arms!  

Getting Dressed
Difficulty with fine motor skills can make getting dressed in the morning extremely frustrating! Here are a few devices meant to make this process a little bit easier:

Zipper pulls – These are SO much easier than trying to maneuver small zipper tabs. One reader even suggested using a fork to accomplish the same thing!

*Magnetic button-down shirts – Originally developed for people with Parkinson’s disease, these look like regular shirts but the buttons are actually magnets that require almost zero fine motor skills.

*Magnetic Jewelry helpers – These make working the clasps on necklaces and brackets so much easier!

*Comfortable shoes – Cadense, adaptive sneakers designed for people with walking difficulties or drop foot.  https://cadense.com

*Dressing Comfortable shoes sticks and shoe horns – These will help you pull on clothing and shoes with minimal bending and twisting.

Getting out the Door
You are cleaned up, dressed, and ready to go! Now WHERE did you put those keys? Here are a few basic tips to help your morning routine flowing smoothly:

*Plan ahead – Lay out items you need the night before so you are less likely to forget something in the morning.

*Assign everything a place – Keep your keys, wallet, purse, etc. in the same place all the time.

*Put items back in the place – where you first looked for them, not where you ended up finding them. Maybe that first place you looked makes more sense to you.

*Leave yourself reminders – slap a Post-it on my door so I don’t forget something important before leaving!

Other Devices & Resources
*Use your smartphone’s reminders feature – A must for those who forget appointments, events, tasks, deadlines.

*HurryCane – extremely steady, easy to use.

*Walkers with a seat – Never expend energy looking for a place to rest again.  This way you always have a safe place to seat!

*Plastic seat covers for your car – Sliding in an out of vehicles just got a whole lot easier!

*Ask wait staff to cut up your food before they bring it to the table while you are eating out if you struggle with using silverware.

*Carry straws with you to make drinking out of cups and bottles easier while you are on the go. 

Fight the fatigue with these tricks:
*Grocery shopping – Many stores offer curbside pick-up or delivery.
*Cleaning services – This is a luxury for many, but sites like Groupon.com and livingsocial.com often have great deals for cleaning services. *Wash and fold laundry services – These generally aren’t expensive and can be a great way to save some energy.

*Reacher's/grabber's  – These can help with so many odd jobs around the house. Never risk falling off of a step stool if you don’t have to!

*Remove stand alone area rugs from your home to avoid tripping. Rugs are the No. 1 cause of falls at home. Velcro them or find a way to secure them so you don’t go sliding around!

*Vegetable slicers – These decrease the risk of injuring yourself with sharp knives if you have any trouble with coordination or fine motor skills.

*The US Postal Service will ship you packing supplies and then pick packages up right from your own home, completely eliminating the need to run to the post office.

*Dragon voice-to-text software – this can help at work and with basic tasks like emailing.  

*Dexterity kits  – These include a ton of useful items that make turning keys, opening doors, using pens, and cutting food so much easier (Amazon)

*Grab bars – Put them up in the shower, up the stairs, in the garage, or wherever you need them!

*Pour Thing (actual name)/The Magic Tap – These devices make pouring drinks into a cup from large heavy containers a breeze.

*Hand grips – These can fit over telephones, cups, electric razors, bottles, or hairbrushes for anyone who has trouble with their grip.

*Medical Information – Keep organized and in one place. You can take a pic of the information and store it in your phone photo gallery

*Medication – trouble opening pill bottles, ask your pharmacist to provide you with easy-open lids.

Use pill organizers to keep track of whether you have taken your daily medication, Use small stickers to label each pill box stating the name of med, dosage, frequency and what it’s for

Use your Smartphone calendar to remind you when you need prescriptions renewed by your doctor. Contact your pharmacy or physician at least one week before your prescription runs out!

There are many Smartphone memory & cognitive apps on the web:
Memory OS
Luminosity
CogniFit 
Brain HQ
Brain Fitness Pro
Sudoku
Crosswords
Wordle

Helpful Daily Tips for MSer's by MSer's   

Put your ego aside and always always ask for help when you need it because the help you get will be worth it.  Plus people feel good about helping you!

Write or use your Smartphone reminder feature to put absolutely everything down:  to do list, appointments, etc. number each item relative to importance. Check off items as you complete each task (avoids your endless distractions)

Use sticky notes plastered all around your house as constant reminders. You can even stick them on walls designated by subject matter/room

If you don't have a Smartphone you can purchase (on the web)“My Little Reminder” it’s a 4" oblong device that helps you remember things. It records your (grocery lists, where you parked, where you put something, to do's, take my meds at what time? Cost $10-$15 dollars single or double set (AA battery required)

(Siri ) on your Smartphone can become your personal secretary, search for anything on your cell phone or internet, record your voice and convert it to typed text with her Voice Memo feature and email or txt the memo and send it to someone in your phone’s address book. 

You can select letters and numbers on a smart phone with a stylist pointer (phone app store and many retail stores have them.) Then velcro a 1/8 inch strip to each (phone and stylist) this way you always know where your stylist is (“oh! it’s right here on the phone”!) It’s particularly helpful for someone with shaky hands and fingers. It avoids having to press the exact position or press small keys with your fidgety fingers

FOR THE HOME

Use Reacher's/Grabbers in multiple rooms to pick up high things, small things, items you drop that are stuck under or between something. Let’s face it,  you probably won’t be able to safely bend to grab it without hurting yourself

Do body stretches in bed before you get out 

Have an easily accessible contact and medical list posted in the house and also one your car. Make sure family, friends and caretakers know where it is

If you have a walker use it to carry laundry baskets to and from the washing machine

“My Little Reminder” (purchase on the web) it’s a 4" oblong device that helps you remember things. It records your (grocery lists, where you parked, where you put something, to do's, take my meds at what time? Cost $10-$15 dollars single or double set (AA battery required) 

If you have a Smart Phone or iPhone use Siri, she becomes your personal secretary. She remembers your daily schedule dates, to-do's etc. She can set alarm to wake up, set timer.
"Siri set an alrm for 20 minutes".

Siri can record your voice and convert it to typed text with her Voice Memo feature and email or txt the memo and send it to someone in your phone’s address book (speak clearly and slowly to avoid frustration by you & Siri. (She doesn’t respond well to swear words and she might cancel the operation or get lost in Web land)

You can select letters and numbers on a smart phone with a stylist pointer (phone app store and many retail stores have them.) Then velcro a 1/8 inch strip to each (phone and stylist) this way you always know where your stylist is (“oh! it’s right here on the phone”!) It’s particularly helpful for someone with shaky hands and fingers. It avoids having to press the exact position or press small keys with your fidgety fingers

In your cell phone contacts organize contacts by category: Doctors, hospitals, medication providers and pharmacies, family, friends, exercise, restaurants, entertainment. This way you don’t have to remember names of people or places

Get completely ready at the start of the day before you do other tasks (focus) to avoid being late to
 wherever you need to be.

Use a TV tray with handles and sides to move food & drinks around to your eating destination (side bars or contoured sides should be at least 5 inches high to avoid things falling off tray).

When moving items (to car or room) use a (cardboard, plastic) catch all box to avoid items falling from your overloaded arms. 

To carry shopping bags from car to house-use a multi handled bag gripper (holds up to 5 bags with the handles).

Household picker upper-long rod grabber/gripper. To pick up high things, small things, items you drop that is stuck under or between something.

On the Go
Keep a cell phone with you at all times

Use alert alarm on your car key to draw attention to yourself for help or to find your car in the parking lot. That is if you don’t park in easy to spot handicap parking spaces because they are all taken

To carry multiple shopping bags from car to house-use a multi handled bag gripper (holds up to 5 bags with the handles)

When traveling via an airport always request their handicap wheelchair service when you book your travel. It will take you to and from your gates. This also will get you to the front of every line for example, Customs. By wheelchair they bring you ahead of the non-handicap travelers
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MS Terms A-Z
A to Z: Explaining 35 of the Most Commonly Used MS Terms
Ataxia: A phrase used to describe the inability of your brain to voluntarily coordinate and control your muscles. When experiencing ataxia you may sway, stumble and slump.
Autoimmune disease: MS is a type of autoimmune disease. All autoimmune diseases have the same cause, a perception of the body to see itself as a foreigner. When foreign matter is identified your immune system is activated. Therefore in autoimmune conditions your body attacks itself.
Axon: The part of a nerve that sends electrical impulses or “information” to surrounding tissues.
Babinski sign: An abnormal response to the Plantar reflex which is triggered when a blunt object is stroked down the sole of your foot. The normal response is a curling of your foot. The Babinski sign is the opposite, it’s an upward flexing.
Bell’s Palsy: Facial paralysis.
Chronic: MS is often described as chronic. A condition or illness that is experienced for a long time and may also be constantly recurring. The opposite of this phrase is acute.
Contracture: A descriptive for permanent muscle or joint shortening as a consequence of your muscles and tendons remaining too tight for too long.
Diplopia: Double vision.
Dysesthesia: Abnormal sensations which can be created by touch or may appear spontaneously. If you experience dysesthesia you’re likely to feel sensations of burning, itching, wetness, pins and needles or even electric shocks.
Dysarthria: The inability to speak normally or pronounce words properly. Dysarthria occurs when the muscles that produce speech are affected by the progression of your MS.
Foot drop: A side effect caused by damage to a specific collection of nerves responsible for movement of your forefoot. You’ll often hear this referred to as a gait abnormality which simply means a change to your way of walking.
Hemiparesis: Having weakness throughout one side of your body.
Hemiplegia: The experience of complete paralysis throughout one side of your body.
Interferons: A type of protein naturally made by your body that when released tells neighboring cells to attack a sensed virus or bacteria, triggering your immune system.
Myelin/Myelin Sheath: A protective fatty substance that coats many of your axons, the part of a nerve that sends communications.
Demyelination: Damage caused to the protective coating of myelin found within your nerves.
Myelitis: An inflammation of the spinal cord causing an interruption of nerve communications to your body. Paralysis and sensory loss are common symptoms of myelitis.
Neuron: A nerve cell whose job is to send and receive information through electrical signals. Your nerve cells work together in an expansive network collectively triggering you to move and to experience sensations.
Nystagmus: Nicknamed as dancing eyes, nystagmus is the involuntary movement of your eyes.
Oligodendrocytes: A type of cell responsible for creating the fatty and protective myelin sheath your body uses to protect specific portions of all nerves.
Optic neuritis: Optic refers to your eye sight and neuritis describes the inflammation of the nerve. Hearing these two words together describes a symptom of MS often leading to disruptions of your vision.
Plaque/lesion: The medical term used to describe scars appearing in the white matter of your brain and spinal cord. The parts responsible for sending communications. These plaques occur as your body attempts to repair the nerve damage being caused by MS.
Paraparesis: Weakness in your lower body.
Paraplegia: Paralysis of your lower body.
Paresis: A weakening of the muscles in any part of your body.
 Paresthesiae: A feeling that seems to have no cause. Pins and needles is the most commonly experienced, similar sensations that may feel like tingling or prickling are also signs of paresthesiae.
Sclerosis: The Greek word for hard, sclerosis describes the stiffening of your body’s tissue. In multiple sclerosis, the phrase is used to describe the formation of plaques or lesions.
Spasticity: Hear this word quickly and you might hear plasticity. The two words have a lot in common. Spasticity is used to describe the opposite of an object that’s referred to as having plasticity. It’s specifically the stiffening or tightening of your muscles leading to problems with movement and speech.
Trigeminal Neuralgia: A stabbing or burning sensation experienced on the side of your face. It’s a consequence of damage to a specific nerve called the trigeminal nerve which is found in your brain.
T-cell/T-lymphocyte: A specific type of cell that forms a vital part of your immune system. T-cells help to create inflammation and kill neighbouring cells they perceive as foreign. This is important when your body uses it appropriately but when you have MS, your body uses these processes to attack itself.

Ways to Live Better With MS
Managing your life with MS isn't just about dealing with the symptoms you have right now. It's about thinking through what could happen in future -- the possible effects on your job, family, and finances -- and preparing for them. Even if your symptoms are mild, planning can make you feel better and be more confident in your future. "It's not bad luck to think about what you might do if your symptoms got worse," says Rosalind Kalb, PhD, a clinical psychologist and vice president of clinical care...
Read more
http://www.webmd.com/multiple-sclerosis/features/live-better-with-msCadense - Truly Adaptive Shoes - Walk Without Limits

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