The MS Wire

News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

Category: General Posts

My MS timeline: 4 1/2 decades of living with MS.

Picture of a journal book to illustrate my MS timeline.

Forty-five years ago—in late August 1980—I’d just returned home from a business trip to Detroit. It was a long, stressful, tiring week. A day or so later, I was walking backward, and I fell. I wasn’t hurt—“no harm no foul,” right?—but it was surprising. And there was, in fact, a foul. It’s called multiple sclerosis (MS). As almost everyone connected to this illness knows, MS is a progressive disease. We…Continue Reading

Can a smartphone + artificial intelligence predict MS future?

A smartphone using AI to predict MS progression.

My smartphone can do just about anything. Could it also predict mymultiple sclerosis (MS) progression? Maybe. Scientists at Google have teamed with others at the University of California and the Duke University School of Medicine to develop a way to use artificial intelligence (AI) learning methods to analyze data collected by smartphones and wearable devices. They report they’ve been able to predict the appearance of five, high-severity MS symptoms –…Continue Reading

Trying BrainHQ to keep my MS brain sharp

Start window for a BrainHQ memory exercise.

I like to play brain games. The Words with Friends app and on-line puzzles, like Connections on the New York Times app, keep me thinking. That’s important to someone with multiple sclerosis (MS), where cognitive fog and fatigue are both common symptoms. So, I was very interested when I was offered the chance to try a website and app called BrainHQ. It’s more than just a game. BrainHQ is designed…Continue Reading

Judy Huemann is someone you should know

wheelchair symbol

You may not have heard of Judy Heumann, who died March 4 at the age of 75. Although she’s not directly connected to the multiple sclerosis community, you should know about her. Everyone who lives with a disability owes her a great deal. Heumann was just 18 months old when she became ill in the 1949 polio epidemic. According to her website, doctors told her parents that she would never…Continue Reading

My MS is Challenged by an Unexpected Driving Test

drving test

My tough day started when Brenda asked, “Why do you use that scooter?” Brenda was sitting behind a desk at the County Tax Collector’s Office in Florida, where my wife, Laura, and I hoped that transferring our driver’s licenses from Maryland to Florida would be an easy chore. When I answered, “I have trouble walking,” and Brenda responded, “Just a minute,” and got up to speak with someone, I suspected…Continue Reading

Where are the Handicapped Parking Spots?

It’s nice when a negative experience can be turned into one that’s positive. I think that’s the result for a wheelchair-using MS patient following a problem she had at the Mall of America a few days before the Super Bowl. For those not familiar with the Mall of America, it’s a huge shopping mall just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its promotional fact sheet says that the mall covers 5.6 million square feet,…Continue Reading

A Tough Year to Fight the #Flu

My son and his wife and one of my grandkids have been fighting the flu. This is not a year to get the flu. The type of flu circulating in most of North America right now is the H3N2 variety. And, in the words of Helen Branswell in a STAT article she’s written, H3N2 is “the problem child of seasonal flu.” H3N2 kills more people than any of the other flu varieties.…Continue Reading

MS Marketing Study

I’m not familiar with Baltimore Research so I can’t vouch for them. However, this information was sent to me by the folks at Can Do Multiple Sclerosis, which is a solid organization. Since many of you may be interested this marketing research I’m passing it along FYI. Ed Baltimore Research has a study coming up that you or someone you know may be interested in. If you know of someone…Continue Reading

If You Have MS You Need to Speak Up Now

This came into my inbox today and I think it’s important to pass it along to as many of us with MS, or another chronic disease, in the U.S. as possible. We may never have another chance to stand in the path of these cuts. Here’s why we’re opposed to this bill: Many families will have to pay higher premiums. If you’re fifty or older, insurers could charge far more…Continue Reading