As I was doing the dishes I thought about how I stumbled into the kitchen. As I have said before, my symptoms seem to be episodic in nature. I’ll get out of a chair just fine and then take a step and stumble through the next 15 feet. My journey to the kitchen got chaotic as I accidentally slammed my plate down on the counter, then quickly cleared up as I made my way through the dirty dishes.

So how is that I can run through these spells? Sometimes I have to slow down and walk through them, but it seems to be much easier for me. Does my momentum give me the confidence to keep moving forward? Even in times on no ms I have ruminated about this. How is that I can run and not fall on my face? How is that I can glide through the obstacles of my neighborhood and not end up on my butt? Momentum carries me through, momentum gives me confidence.

Or is it the physical exertion that does something to my ms ravaged nerve system. I sat ravaged, but I exaggerate, it isn’t that bad. Maybe there is something going on in my nervous system that is affected by the exercise.

I have been really curious to find out what goes on in my body when I run. It seems like I heat up when I stop running. That makes no sense to me unless it has to do with less air rushing by me. I have run a treadmill in the gym and I got really hot with no air rushing by. Seems like I read something about the physiology of exercise, I’m sure I can find out something about it. A post for another day.

I took my rebif last night and I was looking forward to running this morning to note its effects. But alas I didn’t make it up. Actually I did, but I chose to stay in bed instead. I went to bed early last night, but at 1:00 in the morning our geese held a hootenannie. It is egg laying season (or the end of it actually) so I imagine that is what the crazed honking was about. So anyway, I couldn’t fall back asleep after that for any length of time and just sort of tossed and turned. I have noticed this before on the days I take my rebif, then sometimes I sleep right through the night. Yet another thing to keep an eye on.

Maybe I will run tonight after Ruthann gets back from work (or maybe I will just watch the NBA playoffs).

I took my rebif last night and I was looking forward to running this morning to note its effects. But alas I didn’t make it up. Actually I did, but I chose to stay in bed instead. I went to bed early last night, but at 1:00 in the morning our geese held a hootenannie. It is egg laying season (or the end of it actually) so I imagine that is what the crazed honking was about. So anyway, I couldn’t fall back asleep after that for any length of time and just sort of tossed and turned. I have noticed this before on the days I take my rebif, then sometimes I sleep right through the night. Yet another thing to keep an eye on.

Maybe I will run tonight after Ruthann gets back from work (or maybe I will just watch the NBA playoffs).

I have almost made it through my first month of rebif. One of the biggest frustrations with the drug (if not the greatest) is the packaging that it is shipped in. Because it needs to be kept cool, it has to shipped in a styrofoam crate with blocks of ice and many other layers of insulating material. Can anyone say overkill? I know their is good reason for the shipping that Theracom (my pharmacy) does, and the meds are always extremely well packaged (just got my second dose) by issue comes from Theracom’s refusal to reuse the packaging. They say they have done it in the past and that folks have tampered with the packaging before returning it. One bad egg ruins it for everyone? Well I think that is bunk. Maybe Theracom needs to do some inspections on their returned packaging. I am sure that the crates can be reused. In fact I refuse to think otherwise. Theracoms solution of just throw it away is environmentally irresponsible and needs to be reevaluated. I am sure they aren’t the only pharmacies who do this and I am sure rebif isn’t the only meds that get shipped in this manner. I am going to continue my fight to keep their shipping containers out of the landfills.

I have almost made it through my first month of rebif. One of the biggest frustrations with the drug (if not the greatest) is the packaging that it is shipped in. Because it needs to be kept cool, it has to shipped in a styrofoam crate with blocks of ice and many other layers of insulating material. Can anyone say overkill? I know their is good reason for the shipping that Theracom (my pharmacy) does, and the meds are always extremely well packaged (just got my second dose) by issue comes from Theracom’s refusal to reuse the packaging. They say they have done it in the past and that folks have tampered with the packaging before returning it. One bad egg ruins it for everyone? Well I think that is bunk. Maybe Theracom needs to do some inspections on their returned packaging. I am sure that the crates can be reused. In fact I refuse to think otherwise. Theracoms solution of just throw it away is environmentally irresponsible and needs to be reevaluated. I am sure they aren’t the only pharmacies who do this and I am sure rebif isn’t the only meds that get shipped in this manner. I am going to continue my fight to keep their shipping containers out of the landfills.

One of my fears when I first started the rebif was when would I be able to schedule it in. I had heard about the flu-like symptoms and was worried that they would effect me and my running the next day. Well like many people I am experiencing them after I do an injection, but for me they haven’t been that bad. I take a couple of Tylenol when I do the shot and I seem to be ok. I also do it about an hour before I go to bed so I apparently sleep through the worst of it.

So what effects have seemed to hangover into the following morning/day? I do still seem to have a little of the flu-like symptoms 12 hours after injection, but not that bad. I don’t like to take any pain medicine before a run as I don’t want it to mask the onset of an injury, but I have been taking a couple Tylenol before my runs after the morning after injections. The effects I have experienced in my morning-after runs are so far not what I expected at all (I have done it three times now.)

My first MAR (morning-after rebif) run I did a long run (8+ miles) and felt great, a little tired but good. My second MAR run I did a fast run, the fastest 10K I have done since I set my PR. Again I was tired, but the run went well. I was able to continually push my speed throughout. Yesterday I did my third MAR run, this time I went back to a long run (8.5 mi) and I was surprised to see I did it relatively fast too; 8.5 minute miles. Where I usually have an initial seizure after 4 blocks (almost like clockwork) I had none. I didn’t have anything until I hit 6 miles and then I had a very slight one. I had several more after that before I finished, but all in all they were small and I was pretty happy about the lack of negative effect the rebif had. During my cool-down I had a few more, but they were light and I added a core exercise routine I have been doing off and on (more off!) this year.

One of my fears when I first started the rebif was when would I be able to schedule it in. I had heard about the flu-like symptoms and was worried that they would effect me and my running the next day. Well like many people I am experiencing them after I do an injection, but for me they haven’t been that bad. I take a couple of Tylenol when I do the shot and I seem to be ok. I also do it about an hour before I go to bed so I apparently sleep through the worst of it.

So what effects have seemed to hangover into the following morning/day? I do still seem to have a little of the flu-like symptoms 12 hours after injection, but not that bad. I don’t like to take any pain medicine before a run as I don’t want it to mask the onset of an injury, but I have been taking a couple Tylenol before my runs after the morning after injections. The effects I have experienced in my morning-after runs are so far not what I expected at all (I have done it three times now.)

My first MAR (morning-after rebif) run I did a long run (8+ miles) and felt great, a little tired but good. My second MAR run I did a fast run, the fastest 10K I have done since I set my PR. Again I was tired, but the run went well. I was able to continually push my speed throughout. Yesterday I did my third MAR run, this time I went back to a long run (8.5 mi) and I was surprised to see I did it relatively fast too; 8.5 minute miles. Where I usually have an initial seizure after 4 blocks (almost like clockwork) I had none. I didn’t have anything until I hit 6 miles and then I had a very slight one. I had several more after that before I finished, but all in all they were small and I was pretty happy about the lack of negative effect the rebif had. During my cool-down I had a few more, but they were light and I added a core exercise routine I have been doing off and on (more off!) this year.

My wife Ruthann shot this photo of me when I was running the Portland Marathon in 2005. She and some friends waited patiently for me to make it to mile 23 or so. Just as she got ready to snap a photo of me a Milky Way truck barreled down the road. She managed to time the shot perfectly so that I appeared between the two tankers of Milky Way goo. What a photographer!

My wife Ruthann shot this photo of me when I was running the Portland Marathon in 2005. She and some friends waited patiently for me to make it to mile 23 or so. Just as she got ready to snap a photo of me a Milky Way truck barreled down the road. She managed to time the shot perfectly so that I appeared between the two tankers of Milky Way goo. What a photographer!

I decided to try a gluten free and dairy free diet to see if that had any effect on my seizures. So three weeks into eating terrible soy cheese I didn’t really see any effect at all except that I caught a cold. I do have allergies to dairy and I don’t drink milk. If I eat ice cream I usually get really stuffed up. Also on the wheat side I have found I get equally stuffy when I drink beer, so it made sense to try this. Maybe I didn’t give it enough time and I plan to take some of the eating habits I developed during this further. But I also plan to eat bread and cheese. In fact I did read that gluten may actually be beneficial to ms folks.

I really enjoyed the cheese toast I had last night!