News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
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
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
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
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
I’m back in Maryland. After two days — 16 hours of it spent on the road — and 1,104 miles, not a single accident. My bladder control meds must’ve worked. The semiannual trip my wife and I take between Florida’s southwest coast and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. is never easy, particularly because we travel with a cat and a dog. Getting in and out of hotels with two pets,…Continue Reading
It may sound like a joke or a scam, but there’s a nonprofit organization called RIP Medical Debt that might pay off your medical debt. Yep, all of it. According to the organization’s website, RIP Medical Debt has paid off more than $6.7 billion of other people’s medical bills over the past eight years. Healthcare costs take a big chunk out of people’s budgets. That’s particularly true for people being…Continue Reading
What was the first of the MS symptoms you noticed? I’m asking this because of a new podcast that a friend is producing…but more about that later. My first symptom — the one that made me realize something was really wrong — was my inability to squeeze the toothpaste tube with my left hand one morning. Of course, there were earlier hints of trouble. I was unusually tired while attending…Continue Reading
Do you think about death? I do — a lot. I mean, like almost every day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suicidal, and I’m trying not to sound morbid. I love my family, my friends, and my life. I’m not depressed. But I do think about what’s down that road around the next bend. Usually it’s just a brief “I wonder when?” moment. But sometimes it’s, “Will I leave…Continue Reading
April 1 is a day when those of us in the journalism profession always had to be on special guard against pranksters who would try to trick us into reporting phony April Fools’ Day news items. So, I need to be very clear about this post about Dr. Glaucomflecken. “Dr. G” doesn’t exist. He’s an invention of Dr. Will Flanary, a 36-year-old ophthalmologist in the Portland, Oregon, area. “Dr. F,”…Continue Reading
You might be wondering why a Yank like me is writing about multiple sclerosis care in the United Kingdom. It’s because a survey caught my eye the other day that I think deserves a closer look. The survey, conducted by the MS Trust alerts us to what could be a serious problem for people with MS in the U.K.: Caseloads for nurses who specialize in MS care rose significantly from…Continue Reading