News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
I’ve been feeling a bit like a soccer mom the past month or so, even though I’m a 74-year-old guy. My wife and I are leasing a minivan, the go-to wheels of after-school sports parents. It also seems to be a great vehicle for someone with a disability like multiple sclerosis. I’ve had a lot of cars since getting my driver’s license in 1964. But around 2000, as my MS…Continue Reading
“I Am Not The Doctor For You” is the title of a disturbing new study published earlier this month in the journal Health Affairs. It reports that a number of doctors acknowledge being uncomfortable with treating people, like me, who have a disability. The study was conceived of by Lisa Iezzoni, MD, a professor of medicine at Harvard University. Over years of talking with people with disabilities, she noticed a…Continue Reading
If you have multiple sclerosis (MS), you’ve probably had several MRIs “with” and “without.” The “with” means injecting a contrast agent containing gadolinium into a vein. The agent then travels into the brain, where it “lights up” areas of active inflammation that otherwise would be difficult or impossible for doctors to see. Using a gadolinium-based contrast agent is an important part of the diagnostic and disease-tracking process for people with…Continue Reading
“I never thought a disaster would happen to me.” I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard someone utter that phrase during my four decades in the news media. Last week, disaster happened to me. About three years ago, my wife and I bought a condo as a wintertime escape from cold, wet, snowy winters in Maryland. Our Florida home is in Punta Gorda. If that rings a…Continue Reading
It wasn’t easy for my wife, Laura, and I to enjoy one of Elton John’s concerts on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour the other night. Sir Elton was appearing at Nationals Park, the baseball home of the Washington, D.C., Nationals. Having seen a couple of ballgames at the stadium over the past few years, I thought there wouldn’t be more than the usual problems for a guy with MS who…Continue Reading
I have to be honest: I haven’t always been honest. I don’t always practice what I preach. My wife called me out on that as we watched an interview I did recently about multiple sclerosis on Montel Williams’ podcast. “You should follow your own MS advice,” she told me. She’s right. Keepin’ it positive I’ve always been a “let’s all look on the bright side” kind of guy, at least…Continue Reading
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
It’s not easy choosing a MS treatment. There are shots and pills and intravenous infusions. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society lists more than 20 disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) on its website. Some, such as Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), and Tysabri (natalizumab), have proven to be effective at slowing the progression of MS. Others, less so. All DMTs have potential side effects, some more than others. So how do you know which…Continue Reading
A little over a year ago, I wrote about whether Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi’s) might be the next big thing in multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments. BTKi’s are small molecules that selectively block an enzyme that’s important for the activation of B-cells in the immune system and microglia, cells whose job is to protect neurons. Some of both types of cells are thought to be responsible for the abnormal immune…Continue Reading
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