News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

Can Cannabis Products Help MS symptoms?

Cannabis

A recent question on the MS News Today Facebook page generated some buzz about getting a buzz on to treat your multiple sclerosis (MS). The question was, “What helps you the most to manage your daily life with MS?” Many people with MS said the thing that helped them most was using cannabis. A survey in 2020 reported that nearly half of people with MS in the U.S. said they…Continue Reading

Some MS Research is Out of this World

MS research on the ISS

As you read this, a group of scientists is doing MS research high above the earth. Their laboratory is in orbit about 250 miles up, aboard the International Space Station. Working with researchers at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), astronauts have been helping with a study about how astrocytes — cells that hold other cells together in the central nervous system — can be manipulated to halt or…Continue Reading

Briumvi, a New MS Treatment, Could Improve Life Quality

briumvi vial

The multiple sclerosis treatment arsenal has gained a new weapon. Shortly after Christmas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Briumvi (ublituximab), joining a small group of disease-modifying therapies that aim to halt MS progression by knocking out certain B-cells in the immune system. Why does Briumvi target B-cells? B-cells remember past threats to the immune system so that invaders, like viruses, can be stopped quickly. But some B-cells, carrying…Continue Reading

Some Things to Know About MS Brain Shrinkage

brain shrinkage

I was amazed when I read a comment from one of my “MS Wire” readers recently about brain shrinkage. “I’ve had MS since 2011. I had no idea about brain shrinkage,” she wrote. But I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. A survey taken in 2018 by the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America reported that, of the 1,337 people affected by MS who responded, only 20% considered themselves to be…Continue Reading

Does it Matter What Your MS is Called?

Does it matter what your MS is called?

What’s in a name? Does it really matter if your MS is called relapsing or progressive, or secondary rather than primary? I’ve never thought so, and it seems as if the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS agrees with me. In recommendations published in The Lancet Neurology, the panel calls for new methods to classify MS — methods that reflect the disease’s underlying biology, rather than differences in…Continue Reading

Will the Third Time be the Charm for Amazon Healthcare?

amazon healthcare

For the past few years, the company that brings us everything from books to basketballs has been experimenting with bringing us Amazon healthcare. In 2018, the company launched a project called Haven in partnership with a pair of financial giants, with the goal of providing healthcare services to over a million employees. The idea behind the project was “to make primary care easier to access, insurance benefits simpler to understand…Continue Reading

A Hug is Nice, but Not This One

MS hug feels like chest pan

In the 42 years that I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis I’m glad that I’ve only been hugged twice. I’m talking about the MS hug, and it wasn’t fun. This MS symptom can feel like pressure or pain around the chest, back, or stomach, and it can be scary. Some people described it on the MS News Today Facebook page like this: “It’s like a charley horse in my ribs while I’m wearing…Continue Reading

Tips for easier living with MS

Grab bars make is easier for people with MS.

What do you do to make living with MS a little easier? That question was posed to readers of the MS News Today Facebook page recently, and about 175 people responded. Even an MS old-timer like me (I’ve been living with the disease for 42 years and counting) found a few new ideas, so I thought I’d share some of what was suggested. Easier living in the bedroom Let’s start…Continue Reading