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.
For most people, the holidays are a time of joy and good cheer. But when living with ALS, or providing care for someone who does, holiday activities have the potential to add stress to an otherwise happy season. Over the years, I’ve come to rely on a…
Even though November is National Caregivers Month, I think we also should include Good Samaritans and caring strangers. Everyone who opens a door or helps carry a bag, hands us items off the top shelf or points us in the right direction; a big thank you…
The other day, while skimming through a list of reader comments on ALS News Today, I ran across one remark that stopped me in my tracks. It was a complaint regarding the photo that accompanies this column. The reader thought the woman in the wheelchair looked too healthy…
Recently, thanks to my ALS News Today publisher, I had the exciting opportunity to test out an Echo Show. Why would I rate that as exciting? Well, we already owned an Amazon Echo (tower-type) device, but with my ALS-affected voice, I was batting zero activating it.
“Have you seen this?” The opening line of my friend’s email certainly caught my attention. Turns out my friend sent along a link to a website, one of the new online ALS resources that have been popping up lately. Eagerly I checked it out, and being pleased with…
Quick! Guess where I was the other day? Hint: I spent quality time with a few ghosts, goblins and vampires. Nope, I didn’t visit a haunted house – I went for a haircut! You sure can’t tell from the outside, but where I go has an explosion…
During my last visit to the ALS clinic, my neurologist surprised me with an invitation to be a participant in a clinical trial that she was conducting. It was open to 50 of her patients, it could be completed in our own homes, and only it required…
I began to notice something new during my first year of living with ALS. Every day around mid-afternoon, my energy would drop. Sleepiness, lack of concentration and a case of the blahs would creep in. Was this a brand new symptom of ALS? No, luckily not. But the…
Dear readers, this week my Living Well with ALS column will take a slightly different path down the road of wellness. Because, in the quest of living a balanced life, I’ve learned that humor is something we all need to incorporate into our days. And one of…
ALS is not only a confusing disease for those of us who have it, but it also throws our well-meaning friends into a tizzy. Friends who truly want to show their love and support are stymied as to what to do, how to act or what to bring.
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.