From Prevention
- Selma Blair shared an Instagram photo recalling the symptoms she experienced during an early MS flare.
- Blair explains that she “didn’t know what was happening,” and that her “leg was dead.”
- Flares often make existing MS symptoms worse, leading to mobility issues, overwhelming fatigue, and even difficulty speaking.
If there’s one thing that stands out about Selma Blair’s multiple sclerosis (MS) journey, it’s her ability to be brutally honest about everything she’s gone through before, during, and after her diagnosis. On Thursday, she revealed another layer to her MS story in an Instagram post, where she recalled experiencing MS symptoms before she had been diagnosed.
She captioned the post: “A beautiful summer night in Miami. My flare was already hitting. I didn’t know what was happening. But I sat outside and had a gorgeous dinner with my dear friend. All we have is right now. This. Is the past. But I remember knowing to just feel the warmth in the breeze. The gift of this trip. Under the table my leg was dead. I couldn’t stay awake and my right hand couldn’t find my mouth. But I was happy.”
Blair, 46, was diagnosed with MS in August 2018, but admits that she experienced symptoms long before then. In a recent interview with Good Morning America, she explained that she saw several doctors before receiving an accurate diagnosis. “I had tears,” Blair said during the interview. “They weren’t tears of panic, they were tears of knowing that I now had to give in to a body that had loss of control and there was some relief in that.”
What is an MS flare, exactly?
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (aka, your brain and spinal cord). An MS flare-up (also known as an exacerbation, relapse, or attack) happens when new symptoms appear or old symptoms get more difficult to manage, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Certain symptoms-such as fatigue, difficulty walking, vision problems, pain, and numbness or tingling-can impair a person’s ability to move or function properly.
In Blair’s case, flare-ups have hindered her ability to walk (she uses a cane and, more recently, a walking bike), move her hands, speak properly due to spasmodic dysphonia, and stay awake because of overwhelming fatigue.
During a flare-up, inflammation disturbs a person’s central nervous system by damaging myelin, or fatty substances that surround your nerve fibers. This causes communication problems among your nerve impulses, leading to disabling symptoms. An MS flare can last a few days, weeks, or even months. People also experience these exacerbations differently, and symptoms can vary greatly from person to person.
For severe MS flares, such as those that interfere with mobility, doctors will often prescribe a three to five day course of high-dose corticosteroids to tamp down inflammation quickly, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Blair’s course of treatment is unknown, but she’s made it clear that she only plans to keep moving forward. Blair ended her post with a touching testament to the present: “My son is asleep next to me. I hear his breathing. That of a tender soul, a young boy who will wake full of energy. I am going to curl up next to him. Cause that is what this wonderful life can bring. The now. The now I love.”
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