Living Well with ALS - a column by Dagmar Munn

Living Well With ALS When Dagmar was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 59 in 2010, she tapped into her nearly 30 years of professional experience. She not only follows her own wellness and fitness advice but also inspires and teaches others to do the same. Dagmar is a patient columnist at BioNews, writing “Living Well with ALS.” In addition, she is one of the moderators for the ALS News Today Forum and writes a personal blog called “ALS and Wellness.” She lives in Arizona, enjoying finding humor in life's situations, and spends her free time pursuing creative projects in fiber arts.

Pandemic Pitfalls: Avoiding the Compare-despair Trap

Remember those “100 Things to Do During a Pandemic” emails that arrived in our inboxes a while back? Well, a few days ago, I came across one, and while reading it, I felt the symptoms of “compare-despair” welling up in my mind. Years ago, I might have followed the negativity…

Talking Myself into a New Habit

Recently, I noticed a surprising side effect from just a few weeks of following the stay-at-home guidelines: I’ve been talking less. A whole lot less. And to be honest, on some days, my conversations were limited to “yes” and “no” answers. That worried me. Because I’ve worked hard to prevent…

A Look Forward: My Post-pandemic Predictions

I’m an avid trend-watcher and enjoy tracking how new phrases and products end up permanently woven into our daily lives. For example, only a few months ago, a mention of flattening the curve or social distancing would cause most folks to shrug their shoulders. Now, both phrases have become rallying…

Handling Stress During the COVID-19 Crisis

What an emotional roller-coaster time we’re in right now! During this COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve felt the upswings of coping and adapting well, followed by the downswings of worry that this crisis would never end. Only when I took a step back, to reflect on my feelings and identify what…

My Strategy for Facing Change: Adapt, Learn, Survive

Social distancing? Shelter in place? For many like me who live with ALS, the recent COVID-19 guidelines to “stay home” and “work from home” are what we already do! Every. Single. Day. Getting out and about for a quick trip to the grocery store or a meal at…

Stepping onto the ALS Rating Scale

Oh, how I wish living with ALS weren’t so murky: We don’t know its cause, we don’t have a cure, and we measure symptom progression by way of 12 questions. I can’t do anything about the cause or cure, but I’m up on my soapbox (the one with the…

Living Well On the Rare Side

The other day, I was chatting with a friend about Rare Disease Day. Wait, what? You don’t know about Rare Disease Day? Well, don’t feel bad. Last year I missed it, thinking it was just another ho-hum awareness event. But I’ve learned the value of events such as this…

Hooray! You Can Hear Me Now!

Sometimes you get lucky and life gives you a break, which is not always the norm for someone living with ALS. The past two weeks have been rather fun for me, thanks to a suggestion that I begin using a portable microphone. I have written about my challenges…

Listen! Can You Hear Me Now?

Living with ALS has taught me to adapt, adapt, and adapt. Because ALS symptoms tend to change, change, and change. And one of the symptoms I’ve been learning to adapt to is dysarthria, or losing the ability to speak. Dysarthria feels like having a bad case of laryngitis and…