The MS Wire

News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

Category: Living with MS

What Would Freud Say About These Dreams?

psychologist

I studied psychology in college, but haven’t thought much about Sigmund Freud since then. I did the other night, though. I had a couple of puzzling dreams. Thinking about them after I woke up and putting a little of that college psychology to work, the puzzle became less puzzling. I think the dreams were directly related to my multiple sclerosis experiences. Take a look at these two dreams, and before…Continue Reading

Montel, MS and Me: The Podcasts

Talk-show / podcast host Montel Williams and I sat down a couple of weeks ago to chat about our experiences with multiple sclerosis. Montel was diagnosed with MS about 25 years ago. He’s very active in all things MS, particularly using medical marijuana as an MS therapy. We talk about that as well as some of the experiences I’ve written about in The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox, my little book for…Continue Reading

Crying or Laughing but Don’t Know Why? PBA Might be the Reason

laughing and crying and PDB

I often see posts on social media from people with multiple sclerosis asking if crying for no reason is an MS symptom. It can be. Laughing for no reason can be one, too. Both can be severe, persistent, unremitting, and unpredictable. The medical name for this is pseudobulbar affect (PBA), and according to the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, it affects one in 10 people with MS — and maybe…Continue Reading

Dits and Dahs Keep My MS Brain Sharp

Morse code key for dits and dahs

I speak Morse code. Dits and Dahs. It’s my second language, and I’m fluent. I’ve been speaking Morse code since I got my ham radio license nearly 63 years ago. (My call letters are KR3E.) At first, I received what was sent at a very slow speed of five words per minute, hearing  o-n-e  l-e-t-t-e-r  a-t  a  t-i-m-e  and writing each on a pad. Later, I would hear whole words,…Continue Reading

Dr. Amazon Wants You as a Patient

Doctor Amazon in your cart

Are you ready to buy your healthcare services from the same place you can buy almost everything else under the sun? Amazon hopes you are. Last month, the giant of online sales announced plans to acquire One Medical, a company that operates more than 125 medical offices across the U.S. and offers 24/7 telemedicine service in exchange for a yearly membership fee. One Medical’s vision is to “delight millions of…Continue Reading

A Shark Bites into Prescription Costs

Shark bites into prescription costs

My multiple sclerosis prescriptions cost me a lot, even with good insurance. Your prescription costs are probably also high, no matter what your illness is, if you don’t live in a country where the government picks up your drug costs. But now billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is taking a shark-sized bite out of the cost of some of those medications. Cuban is an investor who regularly appears on the “Shark…Continue Reading

Disclosing My MS – In a Dream

Dreaming about disclosing

The other night I dreamed I was standing in a military formation when my leg began to twitch with an MS spasm. I couldn’t stay in line. The top sergeant yelled while the other soldiers laughed. Suddenly, the scene shifted to a balance beam, where I desperately tried to stay upright, but knew I couldn’t. So I jumped off. More laughing. In the dream, I realized it was time to…Continue Reading

My Book Gets a Nice Review

The Multiple Sclerosis Tookbox

This is my book. It's designed for MS "newbies" but it's great info for everyone. A paperback and an ebook are available on Amazon.

I’m delighted to share with you some quotes from a review that The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox has just received from columnist/moderator Tamara Sellman on the Multiplesclerosis.net website. Some highlights include: “This book lives up to its promise. It provides a simple set of ‘tools’ captured in chapter form, each one focusing on a different relevant aspect of understanding and living with the disease.” “People newly diagnosed with MS will truly…Continue Reading

A Neck Fan Helps Cool My MS

Neck fan

OK, I know I look silly wearing a neck fan — maybe even scary — but the Father’s Day gift I received from my son and his family is really cool, especially for someone with multiple sclerosis. Just in time for the fun in the sun summer, I can now touch a button and select from three speeds of “ah” to surround my neck and tickle my ears. For people…Continue Reading

She Told the Recruiter About Her Chronic Illness and She Got the Job

chronic illness disclosure

It’s a decision most of us with a chronic illness have to make sooner or later: When do we disclose our illness, and to whom, and how do we do it? Thirty-one-year-old Katie Coleman faced that decision not long ago. Coleman has stage 4 kidney cancer and, in April, she was being interviewed for a software developer’s job she wanted. To tell or not to tell, that was the question.…Continue Reading