MS is being diagnosed earlier and earlier due to the widespread availability of MRI, increased “awareness” among doctors and patients, and more sensitive diagnostic criteria. Often the diagnosis is made during training or studies, or at least before the final decision on a profession is made. Therefore, I am increasingly confronted with the question of career choice with MS.
Basically, I take the view – this is known by those who follow my blog or know me personally – that MS should not have too much influence on private life and the personal goals and ideas of a person affected.
In addition, I also believe that with today’s available drugs, very often such good disease control is possible that a relatively normal life with MS is possible.
On the other hand, one cannot promise every patient a positive course of the disease. Since one cannot change a profession as arbitrarily as a piece of clothing and choosing a profession is a long-term decision, it is advisable for people with MS to approach their career choice consciously against this background.
Accordingly, professions that are heavily dependent on physical abilities carry a certain risk. It is always possible that changes may occur as a result of an MS relapse that could affect the profession. So if I diagnose MS in a police officer, for example, I would remind him that unrestricted physical abilities are needed for service with a weapon. If the career choice is made with a particular view to field service as a police officer, then there could be a risk of later disappointment. Similarly, I would advise a medical student not to only consider surgery in his career plans. Of course, this does not mean that people with MS cannot perform the above-mentioned professions just as well as those not affected, but in any case it is sensible to make conscious considerations. It can also be useful to involve your neurologist – because even if a doctor cannot make exact individual predictions, estimates are possible, and this may also help in making a decision for or against a profession.
Another aspect is important. MS patients generally do not experience global intellectual limitations due to the disease, which means that physically less demanding professions are always a good choice. However, MS often leads to specific partial performance disorders and the phenomenon of increased fatigability (fatigue). These disorders very often interfere with professional life from my experience – it is usually not the physical limitations that cause problems, but the reduced ability to multitask and the reduced performance compared to unaffected employees.
Therefore, it is also important to include this specificity of the disease in your considerations for career choice: Does my profession offer the possibility for sufficient breaks, a flexible design of my workday, and to what extent can I bring in individual needs. And last but not least, it is worth looking at the fairness of the employer towards people with restrictions when choosing a profession.
