News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
I took a relatively high dose of vitamin D3 for years – decades, actually – believing that it might slow my multiple sclerosis progression or improve my symptoms. I think it was my neurologist who suggested the supplement, and it’s not surprising. The Mayo Clinic’s website says vitamin D supplements may reduce the severity and frequency of MS symptoms. The MS Trust warns that having a low lever of the…Continue Reading
Have you checked the cost, recently, of MS drugs or of drug insurance premiums? Reuters, using data compiled by the health care research firm 3 Axis Advisors, has reported that price boosts were expected on more than 140 brands of drugs early this year – more than 500 if you include different doses and formulations. It’s probably not a coincidence that the monthly cost of my AARP Medicare Part D…Continue Reading
March is MS Awareness Month…what better time for me to drop the price of the paperback version of my book, “The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox,” to just the cost of printing and shipping. “The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox” combines my experiences living with MS for four decades with detailed information about treatments, tests, diagnostic criteria, mobility aids, travel, talking with your neurologist, and more. It’s designed for folks who are newly diagnosed…Continue Reading
Is there a time when multiple sclerosis (MS) is finished attacking the nervous system – when it just “burns out” and there’s no longer any need to continue using a disease-modifying therapy (DMT)? A 2017 review by researchers at the University of British Columbia notes that disease activity declines as people with MS grow older. It suggests that those who are 55 years or older and have had no relapses,…Continue Reading
It wasn’t a good morning. I was dragging my cement-pillar legs around the kitchen and grew frustrated as I lurched from the refrigerator to the counter to feed the cat and the dog. I’d propped my two canes against the counter, but they’d slid to the floor — not once, but twice. When I bent down to put a bowl of water on the floor, it spilled. Then I wanted…Continue Reading
I slept through the night last night. Recently, I’ve managed to do that on most nights. No 4 a.m. bathroom trips for me! That’s a big deal. There was a time when I’d get up two or even three times during the night for a bladder run. Sleeping seven or eight hours straight is huge. I’ve been troubled by bladder frequency and urgency for many years during the four decades…Continue Reading
I’m back in my happy place. My wife, Laura, and I, along with our Yorkie-poo and our Maine Coon cat, have made it back to our Florida home after 16 hours and about 1,000 miles of driving over two days. There were no traffic jams, we had a comfortable motel bed, my multiple sclerosis bladder problems were pretty much under control, and Laura and I didn’t kill each other. So…Continue Reading
“I’m so tiredThe hammer’s coming down againI’m hardwiredAll the signals cross and double backBroken insideThere’s no fixing anythingHow do i explainI’m fighting every day to do the simple things?” The lyrics to “Hammer,” written by Susie Ulrey of the band Pohgoh, probably ring true for most everyone with multiple sclerosis. Ulrey’s story is similar to many of ours. Double-vision three days before her wedding in 2000. A visit to a…Continue Reading
You’d think that people with multiple sclerosis or another disability would have easy access to healthcare services. That’s not always so. A small study in the journal Health Affairs that I wrote about last year said many physicians “expressed explicit bias toward people with disabilities and described strategies for discharging them from their practices.” Now, at the urging of people with disabilities and others, the U.S. National Institutes of Health has…Continue Reading
A question that’s been bothering me lately is this: It seems that more than a few neurologists have a less than optimal understanding of multiple sclerosis. Why is that? In my four decades of living with MS, and during the several years I’ve written about my illness, I’ve regularly heard complaints from people with MS that the neurologist they’re seeing just doesn’t seem to have the right stuff. A Reddit…Continue Reading