Selma Blair on MS diagnosis: I am disabled
Actress Selma Blair took to Instagram to open up about her diagnosis and battle with multiple sclerosis.
Selma Blair this week revealed she was once “ridiculed” for attempting to assuage her multiple sclerosis (MS) muscle spasms by bringing a towel into the bath with her.
The “Cruel Intentions” actress, who revealed her MS diagnosis in October 2018, took to Instagram with another candid update about her battle with what the National Multiple Sclerosis Society describes as an “unpredictable, often disabling disease that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.”
“So. I spin the wheel again,” she began. “I stop on a pic a friend took of me trying to stop spasms by lying in warm water with a heavy towel with minerals in [the] bath. Specific minerals.”
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The actress then revealed she once posted the same photo — but took it down after she claims she was “kind of being made fun of by some news outlets."
“My skin wasn’t as tough yet,” Blair, 47, noted.
“The thing is, the heavy towel helped,” Blair continued. “My body would go into a kind of palsy. I was embarrassed and tried to turn them into mouth clicks instead. But the energy had to go somewhere.”
“The therapist recommended towels over me. It helped. She said it really helps her autistic patients. So I wanted to share. A warm bath with towels and a space heater in [the] bathroom so water doesn’t have to be so hot,” she added.
“We are in this together. I don’t mind being ridiculed a bit anymore. We do what we need to do,” she concluded the post.
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Spasticity is a common symptom of MS, per the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Spasticity — which refers to “feelings of stiffness and a wide range of involuntary muscle spasm,” according to the organization — “may be as mild as the feeling of tightness of muscles or may be so severe as to produce painful, uncontrollable spasms of extremities, usually of the legs,” it added.
Spasticity can be treated using certain medications and through physical and occupational therapy, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which noted the symptom is “treated on an individual basis and demands a true partnership between the person with MS and his or her healthcare team.”
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