Folks who are healthy & rarely unwell to the point of needing more intensive medical intervention very much underestimate the extent of paperwork/admin nonsense one has to navigate when chronically ill/disabled :/ :(

***trying to smother incandescent fury of Systems denying necessary medical treatments to patients****

Infusions & biologics - depend on type and target. Range of options for MS - usually aiming at reducing/disrupting those immune system cells which ID friend as foe (which on top of other means to attack/damage nervous system, also cause beacons to be lit and other tissue to be affected - eg bone).

Clearly this is all a very broad and rough sketch. Prednisone and similar steroids kind of act like a smothering foam for the inflammation - potential for greater off target impact across more of the body systems (steroids are a form of hormone - hormones usually have a body-wide reach).

It results in a lot of overlap/spilling into other systems and more frequently observed pathological states (e.g. high rate of osteoporosis in MS patients), and incidentally chews a lot of the resources in our body as it tries to and keep up with the constant call to arms / repair.

Back to narrative - imagine the beacons continuously on or lit up - whether legitimately due to tissue needing constant repair, body constantly fighting infections, OR due to mistaken identity (autoimmune conditions) when our own cells/tissues are mistaken for foes to vanquish - MS

(sidebar: this is why as it turns out anti-inflammatory meds during fractures/breaks can be a bit disruptive to processes of repair and offering them as pain relief options makes eyes twitch in bone biology nerds)

Beacons are usually only lit (in the body) to address recruiting or alarming to pathogens (in immune system context) or need for repair/maturation of specific cells to engage in removal of damaged/old tissue and recruitment of construction crew (example of bone maintenance or fracture repair)

When beacons are lit - those cells with responsive receptors who know what response is required either switch to the needed function (folks know understand what it means when beacons are lit, getting weapons or repair tools ready, possibly heading to the site of confrontation or repair)

Shorthand way of thinking about it: inflammation is a form of communication between cells & is a part of the "normal" immune system process AND also general tissue repair. Like beacons, the different inflammatory mediators call for cells in reach that can* receive this signal - beacons of Gondor

Here to answer inflammation and bone related queries! Trying to follow context with a slightly groggy brain and body that (ironically) feels like it's on fire thanks to an inflammation flare up. :D

Can't see

I share from other side of the Pacific last night :)

Once more: energy intensive but sometimes when little node of 5% energy levels folks can brainstorm with scatter shot/physiological speculation approach - a little sparkly thread emerges, leading to (gentle) hypothesis testing (preferably with close collab or at least the okay of trting med folk)

Also - just last night/early morning - pharmacist friend and I were sifting through a bunch of (rare, new onset) symptoms/blood tests, known diagnoses, & medications to check - interactions, possible exacerbations, disruptions etc (no matter how rare), case studies etc etc

That being said after a recent repeat experience - constant inflammation chewing through iron reserves and disrupting absorption of dietary and oral supplemented iron - cannot underestimate just how much that messes up rest, nausea, and ...well.. basic existing. not always reflected well in serology

It is frustrating how variable the experiences can be regarding rest, nutritional intake, and pain management ><

Re food: I do strongly encourage trying to tally up the foods that seem to be followed by unpleasantness to narrow down possible common triggers. But acknowledge energy this requires