My thoughts why I like having a men's support group

There are many MS support groups that both men and women share their experiences however women often are able to have their own "social" gathering with other women while men often can't. Typically because most MS patients are women and often I see at least 1 to 3 men in support groups and that women often outnumber men in over-all support groups. I do believe men should be able to bond together and develop friendship. My wife is very supportive in all aspect of my disabilities however she said she is unable to help me in certain areas of my mental and emotional distress that only men can relate. One of the best ways to combat the mental and emotional distress is to be part of a men's support group that "peer to peer" help in a caring atmosphere. To me, in my own thoughts, I would like to see a sense of community that is not found anywhere else that we can exchange practical tips and share experiences and feelings that men can only understand. A safe place to talk openly about problems and feelings and to have a simple social interaction that will reduce feelings of isolation. I hope to play golf with some of them (I am not sure if any of them play golf).

Living with Multiple Sclerosis, I am prone to live with chronic pain. Most of the time, I am managing my chronic pain and just learn to listen to my body. There are times that my chronic pain can be very uncomfortable. The most common pain I face is spasticity which basically feelings of stiffness and a wide range of involuntary muscle spasms. I often experience is often the feeling of tightness of muscles and sometimes painful spasms, usually of the legs and my back. Other issues I face with MS are: fatique, dizziness, feet spasms, swallowing (once in awhile), and numbness/tingling. Most of my relapse are associated with dizziness, fatique and spasms.

One topic of a "sensitive" topic would be sex. Multiple sclerosis affects woman more than men. For majority of both men and women with MS suffer from at least 1 symptom of sexual dysfunction. Men deals with impotence which hurts their ego. For me, which I think this a common problem for men is spasticity. The muscles in our bodies spasm painfully, without warning. Sometimes spasticity causes impotence due to lack of desire. Mostly up my legs and sometimes my back. Most of the time, I am thankful that I hardly had that issues but there were times, I did. Other times due to medications and/or psychological reasons, I had problem with impotence. I am able to perform most of the time (thankfully). Emotional health is an important part of overall health because living with a disability can make coping with everyday life even harder.

My next step is finding a church with "Men with Disabilities" group.