🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Multiple Sclerosis course.
What MS Actually Is
Autoimmune attack on nerve myelin. Many subtypes, many treatments.
Learn ItWhy DMTs Matter
Disease-modifying therapy slows progression. Newer ones very effective.
Learn ItSpot the Flare
Sudden weakness, vision loss, severe symptoms — 911 or urgent steroids.
Learn ItTriggers (and Pseudo-Flares)
Heat, infection, fatigue, stress can mimic flares. Cool down, treat infection.
Learn ItDisease Course
Relapsing-remitting, secondary progressive, primary progressive. Each different.
Learn ItDMT Injection/Infusion/Pill
Highly variable. Adherence + monitoring critical.
Live ItMRI Schedule
Annual or as directed. Tracks disease progression.
Live ItExercise + Rehab
Counter-intuitive but exercise improves MS outcomes. Heat-aware.
Live ItHeat Sensitivity
Uhthoff's phenomenon: heat worsens symptoms. Cool down strategies.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring symptom log, fatigue scale, mood, MRI history.
Live ItYour Care Team
Neurologist (MS specialist), PT/OT, urology, mental health.
Live ItTracking + Apps
MS apps for symptom logging. Cooling vests, smart devices.
Live ItInsurance + Cost
DMTs are very expensive. Manufacturer assistance often available.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
MS community is strong. Newly diagnosed need lived-experience guides.
Share ItAdvocate
Push for research funding, disability awareness, workplace rights.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Remyelination, repair, BTK inhibitors, stem cell.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
MS has slow days and flare days. The ladder helps you tell them apart and catch what needs treatment.
Handle at home
- Stable baseline symptoms
- Following DMT and rehab
- Mild fatigue managed
Log it. DMT adherence is everything.
Call the office / message the portal
- New mild symptom (numbness, tingling, blurred vision)
- Running low on DMT
- Mild infection (UTI, cold)
- Side effect on a new med
Same day. Pseudo-flares from heat or infection differ from real flares.
Urgent / Acute care
- Persistent new neurological symptom >24 hr
- Significant fatigue or mood drop
- Bladder or bowel issues
- Vision changes lasting >24 hr
Urgent care. May need steroid course for flare.
ER NOW / call 911
- Sudden severe weakness — can’t walk, can’t use a limb
- Sudden vision loss
- Severe new pain or spasm
- Difficulty breathing or swallowing
- Loss of bladder/bowel suddenly
Call 911. MS flares can be severe.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Right leg weakness for 5 days, a 6 worst, started after a hot bath last week, worse with heat and activity, cooling helps a little, and I had a UTI 10 days ago.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Multiple Sclerosis:
- “Is my DMT working — what does my MRI show, and are we adjusting if needed?”
- “What’s our plan for flares — threshold for IV steroids?”
- “Am I a candidate for newer therapies (Ocrevus, Kesimpta, Briumvi)?”
- “What rehab is right for me — PT, OT, cognitive?”
- “Pregnancy planning, vaccines, infection prevention — how do they fit with my DMT?”