News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
It happened on the coldest day of the season. The wind-chill temperature was 16 degrees F. I was outside, using my electric scooter to take Joey, our cocker spaniel, for his early morning walk. Joey had just finished his business and I was tying the poopie bag when I heard beeping — a string of five beeps — over and over. I checked my iPhone, but it wasn’t the source…Continue Reading
Google has quietly teamed up with Ascension, one of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States, to process the medical records of millions of people. As first reported in The Wall Street Journal, “Project Nightingale” involves all sorts of information about things like lab results, diagnoses, and hospitalization records, and includes patients’ names and birth dates. Ascension runs more than 2,600 hospitals, doctors’ offices, and other healthcare facilities in…Continue Reading
What worries you most about living with multiple sclerosis? I’m catching up with a small survey by Can Do MS, an organization that promotes health and wellness education programs. The survey results, released in September, show that disease progression, financial concerns, and loss of independence are top of mind for people with MS. This comes to me as no surprise. And it means we need health care teamwork. Here are…Continue Reading
A question raised by neurologist Gavin Giovannoni on the Barts-MS blog lit up my radar recently. Dr. G asked whether “elderly” people with MS should be treated differently than those who are younger. The question arises because a case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a serious brain disease, was recently reported in a 76-year-old MS patient. According to the blog, citing Roche Pharmaceuticals, the man has had MS a long…Continue Reading
Don’t tell me how good I look … even if I do look good. Invisible Disabilities Week took place earlier this month. And, as people with MS know very well, multiple sclerosis can be as invisible as Casper the Ghost. An invisible disability isn’t limited to people with MS, but we have to be close to the top of the list of people who are told they look good when…Continue Reading
If a doctor has ever told you “it’s all in your head” this will resonate with you. A neurologist at the Harvard Medical School named Matthew Burke has written an article titled “It’s All in Your Head” for the well-read Journal of the American Medical Association. According to Dr. Burke, the problem of physicians telling patients that unexplainable symptoms are all in their head has become a silent epidemic, “slowly…Continue Reading
The other night I had an MS dream. In it I was able to lift my left leg as well as I can my right one, regardless of my weak hip flexor. I don’t usually know what’s triggered a dream, but this time I did: My Bioness L300 had quit working. (For those unfamiliar with the L300, it’s a functional electronic stimulator that triggers a nerve in my leg and…Continue Reading
Many people with multiple sclerosis use vitamin D supplements. I’ve been popping a 2,000 IU tablet of vitamin D3 each morning for many years. And with good reason. Studies show that having an adequate blood level of vitamin D may lower a person’s risk of developing MS. Research also indicates the vitamin may reduce the severity of MS symptoms and lengthen the time that it takes to move from relapsing…Continue Reading
When asleep, many people dream they can fly. Some dream about being naked in public, failing an exam, or (gasp!) about sex. The other night I dreamed that I was walking. I have that walking dream a couple of times a year. I’m walking along and all of a sudden I realize that I’ve left my two canes behind. My short dream a few nights ago, however, was better than…Continue Reading
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