News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
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
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
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
From what others have told me, it seems a fair number of people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) also live with a gun. When I wrote about this a few years ago, I discovered more of these folks than I expected. Additionally, many people with MS use some form of medical marijuana. So should a person using medical marijuana to help ease their MS symptoms be allowed to have a…Continue Reading
The case of Women’s National Basketball Association star Brittney Griner is an important reminder for all of us who travel with medications: What you might be able to do in your home country, might not be the case in another. And the penalty could be severe. Griner was detained by Russian officials at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Feb. 17. Russian authorities claimed she was carrying vape cartridges in her…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
Over the many years I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis I’ve used several MS drugs to treat my symptoms. Some have helped, some haven’t, and some worked at first but then lost their efficacy. I recently returned to three MS drugs that I’d stopped using for various reasons. Here’s why. Provigil Provigil (modafinil) is a medication that reduces fatigue, one of my most troubling symptoms. For many years I used modafinil,…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
Will your doctor approve a medical marijuana (MMJ) card for you? Two of mine will and one won’t. The doctor who won’t, a primary care physician who works within a medical group, told me it’s the group’s policy. The problem, she explained, is that there are no guidelines. How do you know what to prescribe if you can’t determine the marijuana’s potency or understand how the balance between THC and…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