Illness and MS . . .

For the last couple of times that someone in my family has come down with a cold or a flu or something like that, I have noticed that I get extremely tired. I don't usually get sick but I do end up spending the day/weekend in bed, fast asleep. This past weekend, I slept nearly the entire day on Sunday (I got up for a shower, went to church, came home, ate something and went back to sleep). I slept Saturday night, Sunday all day and all night. The next day, our youngest came down with diarrhea and felt awful. In the days that have followed, other kids have had it for an evening/day. Is this a common symptom of MS? Other people get sick and the one with MS just gets tired? It's happened enough that I believe that there is a definite correlation.
My wife and I were speculating about the mechanism. For instance it may be that your body is so busy repairing the damage from the disease that it leaves off repairing the MS damage? Your immune system kicks up a notch or two upon discovering the intruder and doubles it's attack strength both on it and on you? Just curious if something like this has been noticed by others.

My current plan . . .

It's been quite a while since I last posted. As was obvious, I was pretty upset when I last posted and it's been a while getting out of it. I don't have answers to my questions, however I do have a renewed desire to move forward with my life. I am still on Tysabri. I think that it's better than what I have had previously. I'm also taking glucosamine (the "joint pain" pills that you see advertised in all the stores.) and omega-3 fish oil. I'm also taking a multi-vitamin (centrum) and Celexa. Every morning it's a pill extravaganza as I choke them all down but I think at least some of them help so I keep it up.

My sister in law sent me a link that suggested wearing copper to reduce joint pain. I think it's really only for arthritis and even then, it's probably quack medicine. Just the same, I thought it would be fun to make so I bought some copper from a manufacturer and made a copper arm band (think Egyptian style - my wife calls me Ra when I wear it despite my continued assurances that I'm cooked.) It's fun to wear even if it doesn't do anything.

My fatigue is on and off. Sometimes I think things are all better and then I have a weekend like last weekend when I slept most of Saturday and all of Sunday except church. The results of my last two blood tests indicated that I was slightly Anemic and that may be contributing to the fatigue. My wife has me on a new diet with lots of meat. I really enjoy meat so I'm not complaining. Last night it was barbecued beef, potatoes and vegetables. It was delicious. If my tests come back not anemic in the future, I'm not sure that I'm going to tell her.

My 5th Tysabri treatment is coming up next week. The nurse at the infusion center told me that she had attended a conference where there was apparently some evidence that the efficacy increases until about the 14th infusion and then levels off. I'm looking forward to more treatments in hopes that I can have a little less fatigue.