But despite this fact, ifyou ask the members of our staff about their frustrations on the job, one particular theme emerges: we wish more people with MS knew about the help that’s available to them. We wish you knew about all the different kinds of help our programs can provide. We wish you knew about other resources, like needhelppayingbills.com, gatherMS.com, and auntbertha.com that can help you find assistance. We wish you knew that you can call us with any concern related to MS, and even if it’s something we don’t handle, we will do our best to help you find something or someone who does. In discussing this concern, we thought what if others in the MS community feel the sameway? Do they have secrets that should be sharedwiththeMScommunity?Sowedecided to ask. We reached out to doctors, nurses, psychologists, rehabilitative professionals, MS advocates, caregivers, fitness professionals, and of course, people with MS and asked them, “What should people with MS know, but often don’t?” Many of their answers were surprising. Neurologistsdidn’ttalkaboutmedicaltreatment; they talked about exercise and diet. Exercise and rehabilitation professionals didn’t talk about exercise; they talked about mindset and attitude. Nurses spoke, not about symptom management, but about hope and spirituality. Overall,verylittle of the advice these experts offered was medical in nature, except when itcametotreatingunder-recognizedsymptoms. As you will see from the advice that follows, the MS experts believe that the secret to good quality of life with MS lies in your hands. Your diet, exercise, attitude, and ability to reach out for support are what determine how well you live with MS. Secrets of Secrets of the MS Experts the MS Experts By Kasey Minnis 8 msfocusmagazine.org Life with MS Contact us for help Contact us for help: : Phone: 888-MSFocus (673-6287) email: support@msfocus.org Online applications: msfocus.org If you’ve become acquainted with any member of the MS Focus staff – whether you have met us at a live educational program, read about one of us in the Spotlight column in previous issues of this magazine, or spoken to us by calling our National Toll-free Helpline – one thing you may have noticed is that we love our jobs. We find great satisfaction in helping members of the MS community to have better lives.