LOS ANGELES, June 1 (UPI) -- Actress Teri Garr, a multiple sclerosis sufferer for 20 years, uses the term "TickledyBumptyBoom" to talk about MS because the word makes sense.
"You get a little tickling, then you bump into something, and boom, you fall," Garr said in Tuesday's Washington Post. "When people ask what you have, you say, "Oh, I have TickledyBumptyBoom."
Garr, who kept quiet for two decades about her MS, has now gone public in a big way.
She is a spokeswoman for Rebif, an injectable drug used to treat MS patients, and is the first chairwoman of the National MS Society's Women Against MS program.
Garr, a veteran Hollywood actress, said the disease has affected her right side, causing a limp and problems using her right arm and hand, the Post said.
MS is a chronic, progressive disease of unknown origin in which the immune system appears to attack nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing a range of side effects from slurred speech to impaired movement.
