News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
Many people with MS avoid Florida. I crave it. I like it hot. My wife and I finally returned here in early March, escaping dreary, rainy, and windy Maryland after we received our COVID-19 vaccines. Since we arrived, the weather has been wonderful, with few clouds and temperatures warm enough for swimming outdoors. Swimming, or at least pool walking, is important to me. I try to walk at least 500…Continue Reading
I’ve had my shots, so I’m protected,” a friend recently told me, referring to his COVID-19 shot. My wife and I also have received a COVID shot. More than a month has passed since our second shot of the Moderna vaccine, so we’re also protected — theoretically. But theory doesn’t always match reality, and I’ve been searching for a way to explain to people why we still wear our masks,…Continue Reading
Lately, I’ve seen a lot of incorrect information on social media about how multiple sclerosis affects our immune system. Some of it seems to be generated by concerns that MS makes someone more susceptible to COVID-19, or confusion about whether people with MS can safely receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Here are a couple examples: Immunosuppressed or immunocompromised? One person with MS wrote online that he is “immunosuppressed.” But MS does…Continue Reading
Ooooops!” Actually, I spit out a shorter, one-syllable word as I took a stupid, scary tumble…one of the worst I’ve had in 40 years of living with MS. But this is a family column. My last scary tumble, a few years ago, happened from a sitting position, and I fell onto the carpet. This one happened while I was standing, and I tumbled onto the concrete floor of the parking…Continue Reading
This is disturbing and, unfortunately, not surprising. More than 50% of people with advanced multiple sclerosis report they’ve been mistreated by a family member or friend who cares for them, according to the results of a survey by researchers at the University of California, Riverside. Much of that mistreatment (44.2%) is described as psychological, often involving being insulted or sworn at in anger. This doesn’t surprise me, because I often…Continue Reading
My left hand was numb and weak when I was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. For years after that, symptoms above my waist seemed just as prevalent as those below it. Yet, there were no tests being used that measured my waist-up disability level — nothing equivalent to the Expanded Disability Severity Scale (EDSS) that neurologists have used for decades to measure the level of disability of people with MS.…Continue Reading
I love the car I drive, but I’ve hated going to the dealer for car service. In the four decades that I’ve lived with MS, my walking has deteriorated to the point where I use a scooter if I have to walk more than 75 feet. If I do walk, I need to use two canes and wear a Bioness L300 Go electric stimulator to counter my foot drop. My…Continue Reading
The answer to whether Amazon, in partnership with a pair of financial giants, can make healthcare more accessible and less expensive for its workers is: Apparently, it can’t. About two years after rolling out a project known as Haven, the plug is being pulled. The idea had been for Amazon to pool resources with the investment and banking firms Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. “to make primary care…Continue Reading
Are you sitting down? I am, and I’ve been doing too much of that this year. For the past six months, I haven’t been using our community exercise room. I haven’t been able to swim. I haven’t gone outside that much. I’ve become a couch potato, and you know why: It’s the virus. This is not a good thing. My back has become chronically stiff. Getting out of my car…Continue Reading
The temperature’s dropping. The wind is whipping. It’s time for my wife, Laura, and me to head south, leaving cold, uncomfortable Maryland for the welcoming warmth of southwest Florida. Or is it? Though I once swore I’d never become a snowbird, a few years ago, we spent a week on Florida’s Gulf Coast, where friends had just bought a condo. Before long, we’d spent four winters there and then bought…Continue Reading