I went off the Wahls diet about two years ago. I didn't really mean to; it just kinda happened. Ever since then, things have not gone well. (When I say "have not gone well," I mean I'm seriously fucked. And by that I mean I pretty much can't walk anymore, as well as lots of other things.) At times I have been partially or mostly on the diet, but I have not been on it 100% at any time over the last two years, and I have not been on the diet at all for a while.
Why do I say the diet is great, yet I'm not on it? Seems a little hypocritical, huh?
When I was on the diet 100%, good things happened. One of the good things that happened is that I felt much better than usual, which gave me a very strong motivation to continue eating exclusively food I don't necessarily like. While I was on the diet, my diet consisted mostly of smoothies, all of which were the same. That's two freaking huge (30 oz?) smoothies every day, always made of coconut water, coconut oil, garlic, blueberries, strawberries, banana, carrots, mushrooms, avocado, ice, and either kale or spinach.
My smoothies tasted pretty good, but you can't help but get sick of any meal that you eat twice every day.
Being sick of the smoothies is probably not what caused me to go off the diet, anyway. I guess I went off the diet mostly because my home life was very unhappy, and has remained unhappy for the last two years. I don't really care to elaborate.
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Anyway, I started smoking weed in early 2014. Although I had smoked weed on many occasions previously, I mostly did not use marijuana throughout my life. (Yes, I did go through a short pothead phase when I was about 18). Basically, it made me paranoid if I smoked around people, and I don't like that.
In early 2014, as spasticity in my legs began to irritate me on a regular basis, it occurred to me that I had never even thought about whether marijuana might be helpful for MS. So I googled the appropriate search phrase, and I quickly found out that MS and marijuana kind of go together.
One big problem I ran into right away is that I pretty much had no social life anymore. When you have no social life (in a state where marijuana is illegal in every way), you have no access to marijuana. So I composed a really ballsy Facebook update, asking essentially everyone I know if they might be able to help me get some weed. I'm sure I also explained in my Facebook update why I was looking for weed. Regardless, it worked.
I found out pretty quickly that marijuana helps immensely with both pain and spasticity, and it probably helps in other ways that I can't think of right now. (No, I am not high.)
For some reason, I don't usually have much or any of a problem with spasticity during the daytime. (You'll find out why in a minute.) As a result, I almost never smoke during the daytime. However, I can reliably count on my legs to start jumping around on their own at some point of every evening. When that starts happening, it's time to smoke up.
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I've also learned in the last year, from considerable experience, that ADD medication helps considerably with spasticity. The reason why I know this is because after seeing the same psychiatrist for over 21 years, for ADD, he died.
After frantically trying for several months to find a new psychiatrist with enough sense to continue following my late psychiatrist's treatment plan, I finally ran out of Dexedrine. After being off Dexedrine for a short time, I began experiencing a considerable amount of spasticity throughout the daytime, every day. It didn't take me long to make the connection, yet I was forced to live that way for two or three months. Because, y'know, Land of the Free.
Early this year, I made a decision: Either my neurologist was going to prescribe me Dexedrine or Adderall, or my neurologist was going to become my former neurologist. So at my next neurology appointment, I told my neurologist straight out that if she didn't prescribe either Dexedrine or Adderall for me, it would tell me very clearly that she is not interested in helping me, and consequently I will no longer be her patient. And I meant it.
That may seem like an incredibly ballsy move, but it really wasn't. First of all, aside from my fucking filthy mouth, I think I generally come off as a pretty intelligent individual who is not likely to abuse good drugs. (If you are not aware, Dexedrine and Adderall are speed.) Second, for the two years that I had already been her patient, I had made it very clear that I pretty much will not take pharmaceuticals. So after a little bit of thought and phone research (that is, using her phone to do some research), she wrote me a script for 15 mg of Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine).
I was hoping she would write the script for 30 mg, but there was some kind of mix-up. 15 mg helped, but it wasn't enough. So a couple days before it was time for me to fill my second script, I asked my neurologist to write a different script, with 30 mg daily. She did. And the difference was night and day.
Anyway, that shit helps with spasticity. And I pretty much do not experience any side effects. About the only side effect I ever experience is an occasional itch that you just can't scratch, which may also be described as a feeling of bugs crawling under the skin or something. I can deal with that. It may not be the same with everyone, but it definitely helps for me. Big time.
If you suffer from MS spasticity, I wholeheartedly urge you to consider trying either Adderall or Dexedrine; probably 30 mg daily. But I also want to warn you that your doctor will most likely be very hesitant to prescribe either of these drugs. In fact, most ADD specialists are reluctant to prescribe either Adderall or Dexedrine. Sadly, it's not because they know more than other doctors, but in fact because they know considerably less than other doctors. It's because doctors only know what they've been told, and most of them have been told Adderall and Dexedrine are evil (because they're speed). That's total bullshit.
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I want to add that I have no idea where I found the motivation, energy, or brains to write this post. If I didn't already make this pretty clear, I am basically dead. My legs do very little, my arms do very little, and my brain doesn't do much, either. And that's just the beginning. So basically I do nothing almost all the time. Anytime I try to do anything, I put myself in a position to possibly get seriously injured (or more injured, considering my body just doesn't move how the human body is supposed to move). Fortunately I haven't been seriously injured yet, but it will happen. That much is a certainty.
I may have more to add here.
