The Heartbreak of TickledyBumptyBoom

I do Pilates. I know one thing for sure: If I can get myself to the gym and do the Pilates three times a week or even twice a week, I feel better, and I walk better.

Do you get a lot of bruises from your injections? I do.

I get red marks, not bruises. I find that if I keep the medicine warm before I inject it, it makes that less, and also to rub your skin a whole bunch before you put the needle in and after you put the needle in. It sort of helps it.

But I have this very strange body, where I have this big fat stomach and skinny legs. I want to put it [the needle] in my leg, but there's not enough meat there. So my poor stomach is just all full of holes. It's one of those things where you just have to have a sense of humor about it. But I know I'll never be wearing a two-piece bathing suit.

As an actress, you probably have an easier time with this than I do. But do you find "multiple sclerosis" to be a terrible tongue-twister, and is it hard for you to say?

I say [in my speech about multiple sclerosis] "You try saying it 10 times in a row." And plus, don't some people get tongue-tied with this [disease]? It's not fair.

So I made up a new word. It's called TickledyBumptyBoom. You get a little tickling, then you bump into something, and BOOM, you fall.

When people ask what you have, you say, "Oh, I have TickledyBumptyBoom."

Do you spend any time speculating as to the causes and what in your past might have led to your getting MS?

I do, just like you. I talk to doctors -- I do these doctor/patient programs in different parts of the country, and I ask them what they think. And it's so interesting, because I ask them, do you think it's viral? And they're not sure it's viral, maybe it's Epstein-Barr virus. Do you think it's from the demographics, where you come from, people that are born in a certain region or near or far from the equator? It's so interesting -- like you said [in an article last year], it's like a puzzle, they've got all these pieces, and none of them fit together. But they're starting to fit together a little bit.