News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
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
My multiple sclerosis (MS) was diagnosed 40 years ago in August. I never kept my MS a secret, but I didn’t go around advertising it, either. I’ll bet, for the first 20 years or so, very few people at work knew I lived with the disease. When my MS stuck, I was working as the news director of a large radio station in a major U.S. city. I managed about…Continue Reading
Many people with MS get tattoos. Often it’s a way to deliver a statement about MS to the world, or perhaps it’s a personal message to the person sporting it. But a new report cautions that too much ink might create a health issue for some folks. According to that study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the concern is heat, and we know how bad heat can be…Continue Reading
For years, some people have warned of a possible connection between multiple sclerosis and the amalgam dental fillings many of us have (or had) in our teeth. The concern has been that these fillings contain mercury, which can be toxic, especially if those fillings are removed. In large part, these concerns have been poo-pooed. I’ve been one of the naysayers, along with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, whose dental booklet…Continue Reading