Taking Control of Multiple Sclerosis with Jasmine Joy PH169

<p style="text-align:center;">“You have something like a major surgery, whether you have MS specifically or whether you have any other type of autoimmune disease or anything like that, but those don’t have to be death sentences. Even though that’s what they feel like when you first get diagnosed, and if the relapses are hitting harder and harder, or if the symptoms are getting worse. It’s easy to think it’s just going downhill. The biggest thing that CrossFit has done for me is to remind me or show me that I can take control of my health. I can take control of what my body does, I can take control of what I put into my body, and all of those things are going to benefit me.” </p> <p style="text-align:center;">- Jasmine Joy</p> <p> </p> <p>To look at Jasmine Joy, you would never know there are lesions on her brain and spinal cord, or guess that rods and screws are holding her spine in place.  To the casual observer, 26-year old Jasmine is healthy, happy, and moving freely with full intensity in the gym.</p> <p>Yet, it is actually because of those three things that Jasmine is capable to live her life with little fear of what is to come. The choice of health, happiness, and movement are life-changing ones.</p> <p>When she was age 20, Jasmine was preparing for a spinal fusion to treat severe scoliosis. The surgery would help adjust and hold her spine by using two metal rods and at least a dozen screws and would be followed by a daunting recovery process.  Jasmine would have to relearn how to stand, walk, move, and function on her own before returning to college.</p> <p></p> <p>During the preparation process, the doctors asked a series of routine of questions including, "Do you ever feel numbness, tingling, or pins and needles?" Jasmine told the doctor yes, thinking "who doesn't?" However, the degree, frequency, and locations of pins and needles she was experiencing was not normal and thus, further testing began.</p> <p>An MRI revealed that Jasmine had lesions on her spinal cord and brain. During what was