I can still see the face of Brother Kraft - a High Priest in our ward growing up. I can see the wife of his wife. He lived in a mobile home on a fixed income with his devoted wife. He had gained high military rank in the Navy until he began to experience the symptoms in his 40's. I still remember seeing a picture of him in dress uniform and being wowed at all the hardware. I believe he was captain over a larger ship. Every Sunday, it was a welcome chore to drive out to his remote home and help Sister Kraft load him into his car for the drive to church, as he could not afford an adapted van. I was one of the bigger kids in our Priests Quorum, so I had to maneuver him out of his chair and into the front seat of a Ford Escort. Our ward in NW Washington was massive, so this took quite some time (today, the same area is now the lion's share of a Stake). Then another Young Man would do the same to get him back into his home. He never made it to church frequently as his health became a roller coaster from one day to the next - especially at the end. One of the last things we did for him as I was heading off to college was to get a ramp set up for his new motorized wheel chair. In the end, while I was on my mission, I believe he succombed to a lack of oxygen as the nerve degeneration advanced to his breathing function.
In my current ward, we have an Elder who suffers similarly and may end up in the same boat as Brother Kraft - but is resistant to my counsel about the root cause of his difficulties.
Years ago, when I began to experience the same symptoms (tingling in my extremities, blurry vision, balance issues, decreased mental acuity) due to the stress of caring for my wife after she became B-12 deficient, I thought of how hard it would be to live the life that Brother Kraft experienced. I also remembered a woman whose kids my wife watched as more of a charity than a daycare. Her husband had left her for another woman - and the stress pushed her into the symptoms that led to this diagnosis. I knew from this experience, that stress played a major role in the "disease"; and I would later discover what a mis-nomer that was..... When the woman found new love, her symptoms began to dissipate and she "snapped out of it". How do you "snap out of MS", if it is a degenerative disease (that implies a one-way road -->> downhill)?? Lack of B-12 can be attributed to increased cortizol levels in the blood. As you manage your stress, pay attention to nutrition, get sufficient rest and proper exercise and recreational outlets, anything remotely resembling MS symptoms will begin to evaporate. It takes dedicated loved ones and knowledge of the root causes of what is ailing the body. The same thing applies to many "mental illnesses". Utah has the highest rate of the use of mind altering drugs in the nation among women. This most likely from the "off-the-charts" stress that many women feel to keep up with the Joneses (working outside the home) while being a perfect Mom, perfect wife/lover (keeping up with the porn ideal amongst the men - who also have the highest per-capita porn viewing in the nation) and subscribing to the tenets of our faith which place high expectations, particularly upon the woman. Is there any doubt then, as to why we heard what we heard from Elders Holland/Eyring today about the pressures that people are feeling and ways to deal with them. At the root of it all, there is a spiritual malady. People must be comfortable in their own skin, whether it be a life of poverty or a life of means - where there should be an associated guilt and burden to help others who are downtrodden instead of consuming it upon our lusts as we are prone to do as fallen man/woman.
A correction is coming. One where all of the above will be stripped away. There will be stresses, to be sure - stresses of survival; where my next meal will come from? how do I properly take care of my kids? how will I find safety for my body and my soul? - but they will be designed to humble us: in exact opposition to the stresses we have today; stresses of how we will get more, get ahead of someone else, become more important in Babylon instead of God's kingdom.
Some people, when exposed to overwhelming situations in life such as the death of a loved one, caring for a loved one, the break up of a marriage, loss of a job, the horrors of war they can either become mentally unstable or develop these symptoms. Dealing with them properly is everything.
Here is the article (of disinformation) that got me spun up:
http://multiplesclerosis.net/ms-in-america-2013/
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