I have found online resources have been the greatest help because it’s easily accessible, there’s a world of information at my fingertips. Yes, there is the con in that there can be too much information or too much non-scientifically-based information, which you do have to weed through, which is taking me a while to figure out which is which. But the online resource as the whole have been really, really helpful. And it’s great that I can connect with other people around the world and get the latest info in treatments about my condition. The MS Society, in particular, their website has been very useful.

I probably don’t use as many resources as I can. On Facebook, I am a member of, We’re Not Drunk We Have MS, on the Ocrevus site. I find them to be helpful and a hindrance at times, because there are things for instance, smoking pot, that I don’t really agree with them. I do agree with the CBD aspect of it but I do not agree with the THC aspect, which that’s my own personal preference. But I wouldn’t want my perceptions or my mind being altered or that I would just want relief of any discomfort. And I also use, I can’t even think of the name, it’s the MS Foundation or whatever it’s called. I go to their site a lot to include our local site and I do find that very valuable.

The MSAA, Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, they provide ice vests. That will help in the summer. And of course, the MS society, they’re useful too. With Facebook, there’s a lot of MS groups that I’m a part of daily. MS support groups are amazing. I really don’t have any apps on my phone to do with MS. Facebook especially with the MS groups, I can go online and ask questions and talk to real people that deal with it. We all know that not everybody, nobody’s a doctor on there. We remind each other, “Hey, I have a question, I know nobody’s a doctor, but hey, do you deal with this too?” That’s good to know that other people are dealing-

Utilization of the multiple sclerosis Facebook groups is very, very important to me, using other people as resources to answer questions, tell their side of the story, their side of symptoms or medications. I use it in my daily life. I love it because these people also go through these same exact symptoms as I.

Over the years, I have found that the various teleconferences, webinars, things that I can access on my computer, have been the most useful to me because I can listen to them again and again. I can study them, and I can hear hope in those doctors or nurses that are doing those sessions. But I also get tools that I feel help me be more proactive. I’ve also in the past used online information groups so that I can go in and read. For example, if it’s a new medication, read what experiences other people have had, and I have found that to be very useful.

My wife started her own little Facebook MS group and that’s probably her best support group, honestly. She has some other members that are from all over the world and not very many local. But that’s probably her best support group right there.

Honestly, I don’t really use any resources. All these years, I don’t. Well, recently there’s a couple groups, I guess, on Facebook, an Ocrevus group, and another MS group. What’s the name of it? We’re Not Drunk, We Have MS. I read on there, I don’t really comment. I just read and maybe get suggestions from those. So, I guess those would be considered resources.

I think that resources, there are many out there. There’s of course the internet, there’s TV commercials with the medicines, there is National MS site, there’s Ohio MS. There is all kinds of opportunities to find information out. There’s Facebook, there’s Google, your doctors. There’s lots of resources out there to learn quite a bit about multiple sclerosis, that’s for sure. I usually use the Ohio MS site a lot.

I use the MS Society website to get things to help me in life. They offer cooling devices for the summertime when it gets hot and I also keep a log on my phone when I need to order my medication and through who I need to order it with cause I’m on about five different medications, so I would get confused as to who to order which medication from. I also use a chair quite frequently because it’s easier for me to do things sitting down than to stand for long periods of time.

There are actually support groups on Facebook, which are absolutely amazing because you can talk to other patients from around the world. And not only are they good for sharing information and useful tips, but on the hard days, they’re the only ones that understand really what you’re going through. Because like my husband can… He’s there. He watches what I’m going through, but he doesn’t understand really what it feels like. And you can talk to other patient who really knows what it feels like to go through. Or if some weird new thing happens, you can go on there and you can say, “Hey, this is happening.” And somebody else will go “Yeah. Yeah. I have that too. It’s so annoying.” And it just makes you feel not so alone in the world and not the only person that this really strange twitch is happening to. So you don’t feel like you’re the only freak in the world.

I use the National MS Society and also, I think, Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. And that’s focused. All of those are great resources and they also have programs that help especially with cooling, cooling baths, air conditioner, different things like that. And also, just learned of Moodify, which is great. Little small community. There you post your mood, you can upload a video and you can just get feedback support from others that are living with MS, no matter where they are in the country or the world. So it’s pretty awesome just to have the support and to know that there are others out there that know exactly what I’m living with and basically how I would feel.

When it comes to certain tools or apps, I do use a lot of organization tools, whether it be my calendar or Mango Health just to help me keep up with medication and fill dates for medication. Resources would have to be just Google, searching, looking things up. That’s become my best friend. That’s one of the things that I think I use probably more than anything else.

The best phone app would be BelongMS. It’s a chat group thing where you can chat with others about what you’re going through and they also have an option to write to urologists and radiologists and neurologists and you can ask them questions and just get outside feedback. So that helps a lot. And the best website I would say is the MS Foundation and MS Focus. They have helped me tremendously with just some resources that they provide and they also help with, they have grants where they can help you pay for different types of things, which is really help-

What I found useful is the MS Society website, the Pain Society, the Assisted Funds, different websites will help with your medicine, organizations that will… Like I said, the MS society. Any society that will help with MS. Also, the Facebook groups talks about MS, especially the MS group for women’s of color, they are very useful and we have support groups on there that were very useful because where I stay was not a place where we can meet up and talk, so I have somebody that can support me in any question that I have, and they are really useful and helpful.

I am on a MS Facebook forum, which is nice, but in my journey, I’ve had MS for so long that I try not even to get involved with any of the websites or the apps, because I try to forget that I have it, if that’s possible. I try just to put it in the back of my mind, and not worry about it so much or think about it so much. I think that’s why back in my earlier days with MS I thought about it a whole lot more. Now there’s just so much craziness going on in the world, and I have other health issues on top of the MS, that MS is just something that I have, but I just really don’t put a lot of time and effort into learning more about it or doing all those apps to track it. I just track everything in my mind. And I see my doctors twice a year, and they’re very available through My Chart. My Chart has been a real great tool for me to keep in contact with my physicians.