How may MSA affect family life?
MSA changes life for the person and this may impact on you too.
In whatever ways MSA changes life, remember the most important thing you can do to help and support the person with MSA is to remain close and show you care.
The person with MSA may tire more easily so will not be able to do all the things they did in a day. This means you may need to help out more.
They may be much slower doing everyday things – washing, dressing, cooking, cleaning and eating. This means they may have less time to do things with you and the rest of the family.
The person with MSA may have to do one thing at a time e.g. can’t carry things and walk up or down stairs.
Things they used to stand and do they may now need to sit down for. For example, cutting up food when cooking.
They may have to stop driving the car so are not able to take you to so many places, even though they would like to.
They may have to give up work or doing activities they used to do.
Life can become a bit more unpredictable and plans may sometimes need to change at short notice.
The house may need to be altered and have more special aids and equipment, to help the person with MSA manage.
There may need to be extra people coming into the home to help, this may be difficult for everyone to adjust to.
The main carer of the person with MSA is often their partner, so this person may not have so much time to do the things they would like to with you. They may also be more tired themselves.