Dr Careworker

It's good that increasingly, qualifications are required of careworkers. I don't recall hearing that they need a medical degree though. So you can imagine my surprise, yet again, at a carer telling me that I'm "lucky" to have "mild" MS. (I told her the MS bit. She didn't have to work that out.)

They apparently come to this conclusion because I can still walk - more of a shuffle, really, hanging on to furniture and bumping off walls, but walk - whereas other people with MS they look after can't. There are four possible replies I can think of to this, when I cool down enough:

1. When did you finish your medical training then?
2. When someone has "mild" MS, you wouldn't know by looking at them that they have it.
3. If I had "mild" MS, I wouldn't have a care package paid for by Social Services. Paying your wages, m'dear.
4. The symptoms of MS aren't just about mobility. Everyone with MS has a different collection of symptoms, progressing at different rates.

With today's careworker (didn't you just know this rant had come from somewhere?) I used number 4. Sat her down and talked her through all my symptoms. At length and in detail. All complete news to her.

Don't you think it would be useful if home careworkers got at least some training about the conditions they're likely to come across in their work? MS is the most common acquired neurological disability in young adults, after all - it's hardly unheard of. I forgot to tell her that stress makes MS worse, but it does!