Drugs Archives - Page 4 of 8

Making the Right MS Medication Decision

Posted on September 4, 2019September 3, 2019

An MS medication decision is one of the most difficult decisions for someone with MS and their neurologist to make. After 39 years with MS, and with four disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) on my medical chart, I’m definitely on the hit-it-fast, hit-it-hard side of that treatment decision. So, I was pleased to read an article in Brain & Life magazine reporting that “doctors today are less likely to wait to start…Continue Reading

Marijuana May Complicate Surgery

Posted on August 26, 2019August 23, 2019

If you’re using marijuana and have surgery scheduled, take heed. In Colorado, where medical marijuana was legalized in 2000 and recreational use was okayed in 2012, medical personnel are discovering that marijuana may complicate that surgery. The concern, according to an article in Kaiser Health News, is that marijuana use may “affect patients’ responses to anesthesia on the operating table” and “either help or hinder their symptoms afterward in the…Continue Reading

Does Your Neuro Consider Your MS Medication Costs?

Posted on July 29, 2019July 26, 2019

Does your doctor think about what your medication costs will be when prescribing your MS meds? A few months ago I wrote a post about why some people stop, or skip, their MS meds. One of the reasons is that they can’t afford the out-of-pocket MS medication costs. A suggested solution is to talk with your doctor about cost whenever a new medication is suggested. But, according to the Centers…Continue Reading

MS medication decisions need guidance

Posted on June 24, 2019June 24, 2019

More than 15 MS medications, or disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), are available in most countries to treat MS. DMTs come in the form of injectables, infusions, and pills. Some are new, others have been around for more than 20 years. Some have a greater possibility of serious side effects than others. Some DMTs are highly effective at slowing or stopping disease progression; others, not so much. It’s a difficult choice to…Continue Reading

Balancing Lemtrada’s Risk Versus Rewards

Posted on May 20, 2019May 20, 2019

There’s been a lot of risk versus rewards chatter on social media following the recent decision by the European Medicines Agency to initiate a safety review of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab). The EMA has restricted use of the medication within the European Union while that review is underway. That’s worrying some people who are using Lemtrada or who are about to start. For me, it’s really a question of risks versus rewards. The EMA…Continue Reading

How Many Medications are too Many?

Posted on March 25, 2019March 23, 2019

Have you ever heard of the word “polypharmacy”? I saw the word for the first time today. It’s generally defined as taking many medications together. There’s been debate over how many is “many,” but a number generally used is five or more. That describes me. I take six prescription drugs every day. Four of them are directly related to my MS, the fifth is to moderate my cholesterol, and the…Continue Reading

My Lemtrada Journey Takes Me into a Florida Swamp

Posted on March 11, 2019March 10, 2019

My wife and I joined our son and his family on a tour of a Southwest Florida nature preserve a couple of weeks ago. It required riding on an old school bus turned swamp buggy for a little over an hour and a half. There were plenty of gators, wild hogs, egrets, and storks in the swamp — but no restrooms. So, the bumpy buggy ride really put my bladder…Continue Reading

Debating Whether to Stop Your MS Medication

Posted on February 19, 2019February 19, 2019

Thinking about changing your M S medication

I see a lot of reasons why people stop, or refuse to start, an MS medication. “Thinking of stopping the…meds. Sick of the shots and how they hurt to take them” “I stopped all of them….all multiple times. It takes too long for an appointment and I tapered off “ “Half the s**t will kill you” “My body and my choice” “The side effects are worse than the disease” Forty…Continue Reading

Hit MS Hard and Fast, Suggests New Study

Posted on February 11, 2019February 9, 2019

How quickly to start a disease-modifying therapy after an MS diagnosis is a question that I frequently see when browsing online. It goes hand in hand with which DMT is best to start with. There are many things to consider when making that decision. Here’s a study that may help you weigh the benefits and risks hitting your MS hard and fast. Any DMT is better than none The study,…Continue Reading

Treating MS: Should Efficacy Trump Ease of Use?

Posted on January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

There are more than a dozen disease-modifying therapies available for treating MS. Some are shots, some are infusions, and some are pills. Some are more effective than others. The marketing intelligence company Spherix Global Insights regularly surveys which of these treatments are being used by neurologists and what’s influencing their selection. Here’s what the latest Spherix quarterly survey shows about what’s being prescribed. Just over half of the 100 neurologists…Continue Reading

"People newly diagnosed with MS will truly benefit from this book, while those of us who’ve lived with MS for a while will wish we’d had it ourselves!…Neurologists should consider keeping a copy of this book in their waiting room because their patients are going to need it." - Tamara K. Sellman, reviewing for Multiple Sclerosis.net.

The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox is designed for MS "newbies" but it's great info for everyone. I combine more than 40 years of living with MS with some easy to understand info about diagnosis, treatments, visiting the neuro, relationships, mobility aids, travel and more…a lot of what you get in this blog. A paperback and an e-book are available on Amazon.