Thursday, November 16, 2006

Is this all?

You have MS. Are you still at risk for cancer? For a stroke? Isn't the MS enough?

Well, yes, it is enough, but there is no guarantee you won't also develop another chronic disease. Many blogs and stories I read include tales about a second, or even third medical problem in addition to MS. Life isn't fair.

No, life is not fair and contracting one condition does not reduce the chance of contracting another. I have secondary MS, which is not fair in itself. I also have severe osteoporosis. Not fair again. We all have to take care of ourselves, and that responsibility does not end when one disease is diagnosed.

You have MS. How do you find out if you are at risk, and what do you do to reduce that risk?

The Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention has developed a quick -- less than 5 minutes -- questionnaire to help determine your risk. It also gives tips for strengthening your health chances based on your results. Test for osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. I did. It was fun, the results were correct and informative.

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1 comment:

mdmhvonpa said...

You know what's really awful, is the two people out there that are on the ends of the extreme. The one that smokes, drinks and eats nothing but junk and lives to be absurdly old ... the other who eats all the right things at the postscribed amounts, exercises and tries to lead a healthy and moral life ... then gets cancer or hiv or some other nasty. Fate, though sometimes fair, can be just as fickle.