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ABC/Richard Cartwright(LOS ANGELES) — Actress Selma Blair opened up in a candid post to her more than 800,000 Instagram followers about the often overlooked realities and struggles of living with multiple sclerosis.
“There is a truth with neurodegenerative brain disease. It is uncomfortable. It is a stadium of uncontrollable anxiety at times. Going out, being sociable holds a heavy price,” she captioned her post, which shows her lying in bed holding a teddy bear. “My brain is on fire. I am freezing.”
“I do my best,” Blair wrote, responding to people who often ask her how she does it. “But I choke with the pain of what I have lost and what I dare hope for.”
She added that it is “challenging” just to “walk around,” but that her “smiles are genuine.”
The Legally Blonde actress publicly revealed her MS diagnosis back in October, and has been open about her health struggles and successes on social media.
MS is a disease of the brain and spinal cord or central nervous system, according to The Mayo Clinic. Currently, there is no cure for the disease, but there are treatment options that can help modify the course of the chronic disease and manage symptoms.
The neurodegenerative disorder can cause problems with speech, motor functions and also vision, according to ABC News’ chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton.
The cause of the disease is unknown, but many people with MS experience a waxing and waning course of ups and downs and highs and lows that can vary vastly between different people — and symptoms may be hard for outsiders to perceive, Dr. Ashton added.
Support groups and awareness can really help with this, she explains, as can seeking out mental health treatment with counselors or therapists, as MS can often carry with it an emotional toll.
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