When Dagmar Munn was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 59 in 2010, she tapped into her nearly 30 years of professional health and wellness experience. She not only follows her own advice but also inspires and teaches others to do the same. In addition to her columnist role, she is one of the moderators for the ALS News Today Forums and writes a personal blog called “ALS and Wellness.” She lives with her husband in Green Valley, Arizona, enjoying finding humor in life’s situations and spending free time pursuing creative projects in fiber arts.
Last week, I opened my inbox and an article from ALS News Today caught my eye. The story, “Maximizing lung function with ALS,” explained how patients can proactively manage their lung health…
ALS life involves a lot of waiting. We wait for people to help us with daily tasks, we wait for medical test results, and we wait for new ALS symptoms. But it’s…
Life with ALS often feels like a crash course in adaptability but being adaptable doesn’t come naturally for many of us. However, whether you’re the patient, caregiver, or a family member,…
If you are living with ALS, here’s a question for you: When was the last time you spent the time to learn something? It can’t include watching a TV newscast or…
For those of us living with ALS, every day can have a stressful event. The key, I believe, is to move through the event and, if possible, remember it with humor.
My ALS diagnosis was in 2010. In the months following, I tried to learn as much as possible about the condition and how it would affect my life going forward. I discovered…
Sometimes living with ALS makes me feel like I’m competing in the Olympics. I wake up in the morning and wonder how my body will perform that day. Then I lie awake…
If you’re like me and live with ongoing physical changes from ALS, you’ve probably used workarounds. What is a workaround? A workaround is a creative, temporary solution that solves an everyday problem.
Hello again! I’ve just returned from my summer vacation — my month-long vacation from ALS! No, I didn’t suddenly escape my disease or experience a miraculous recovery; my ALS is most certainly…
Swallowing. It’s such a simple thing to do! We’re born with the ability to swallow; it happens automatically, and the average person does it approximately 600 times a day. I mean,…
For most of my adult life, keeping track of my health was easy peasy — at least, it was before I had ALS. I always followed the recommended guidelines for annual…
Having ALS is certainly no laughing matter, but I’ve found that living with it can give rise to many humorous moments. Most of my “laugh out loud” episodes are the result…
Just as no two ALS journeys are alike, there is no one-size-fits-all method for dealing with the emotional stress of living with this disease. During this past year of columns,…