The MS Wire

News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

Posts

Use Caution When Using Cannabis for MS.

cannabis for ms

People with MS who are using cannabis take heed. A research letter published in May in JAMA Network Open reports that calls to poison control centers about people using cannabis products have been increasing over the past several years. Public health officials are concerned. According to the letter, written by various health experts in the U.S., one problem is that a growing number of retail sales involve manufactured cannabis products…Continue Reading

Poppy Has MS, But so What?

My grandson, John, turned 5 in May, and my granddaughter, Hayden, turned 7 in June. I love being their Poppy, but I wish their Poppy didn’t have MS. I was diagnosed with MS in 1980, just over a year after our son, Geoff, was born. He and our grandkids have lived with my MS all of their lives. I’ve only lived with it for about half of mine. As I…Continue Reading

Satisfied With Sativex in Belgium

Sativex

Could a cannabis spray be just what the doctor ordered to treat our MS symptoms? I’m talking about Sativex (nabiximols), which has been developed as a treatment for moderate and severe MS spasticity. Sativex combines THC, the chef intoxicant in marijuana, with CBD, marijuana’s nonpsychoactive component. It’s sprayed under the tongue or inside the cheek several times a day. The treatment has been approved in several countries, including the U.K.…Continue Reading

My Head Was Spinning. Was it Vertigo?

In the four decades I’ve lived with MS, I’d never before experienced a serious case of vertigo. I’ve occasionally felt a little spacey. In fact, mild dizziness while traveling home from a business convention is one of the things that led to my MS diagnosis in 1980. But vertigo is more serious than being just a little dizzy. It feels like the world is spinning around you. For someone with…Continue Reading

I Had a COVID-19 Antibody Test. What Does it Show?

COVID-19 antibody test

Is 2,500 my magical COVID-19 number? At my annual MS checkup a week ago, my neurologist included a SARS-CoV-2 antibody test. Antibodies are proteins in the blood that protect the body from being attacked by viruses, bacteria, and the like. In this case, the blood test was searching for antibodies that would protect me against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19. With two shots of the Moderna vaccine…Continue Reading

Our 45th Anniversary, Even With MS

45th anniversary

Happy anniversary to us! My wife, Laura, and I are celebrating our 45th anniversary this month. It’s hard to believe, especially because the divorce rate for someone with multiple sclerosis is higher than it is for a healthy person. A review of records in the Danish MS-Registry a few years ago showed that the probability of a marriage continuing after five years was 86% for MS patients versus 89% in…Continue Reading

Are You OK Being Treated by Dr. Google?

Dr. Google

Paging Dr. Google. OK, maybe I’m being overly dramatic, but The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Google and HCA Healthcare have struck a deal to share data and create healthcare algorithms. HCA plans to use the data system to improve operating efficiency, monitor patients, and even guide some decisions by doctors. So, the concept of a “Dr. Google” isn’t far-fetched. HCA Healthcare has clinics at 2,000 locations in 21…Continue Reading

Looking at an MS Cure a Different Way

ms cure

“Why aren’t researchers doing more to find an MS cure?” “Why isn’t more effort and money devoted to this?” I regularly read comments like these after I write a column about a new disease-modifying therapy (DMT) that’s either being tested or has just been approved. Some, like Multiple Sclerosis News Today columnist Jennifer Powell, have faith that a cure will come, but many others feel a cure is far, far…Continue Reading

My MS is Challenged by an Unexpected Driving Test

drving test

My tough day started when Brenda asked, “Why do you use that scooter?” Brenda was sitting behind a desk at the County Tax Collector’s Office in Florida, where my wife, Laura, and I hoped that transferring our driver’s licenses from Maryland to Florida would be an easy chore. When I answered, “I have trouble walking,” and Brenda responded, “Just a minute,” and got up to speak with someone, I suspected…Continue Reading

MS Treatments React Differently to a COVID-19 vaccine

covid-19 vaccine

Are you being treated with a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) and wondering how it might impact the efficacy of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine? If so, a recent study may provide some clarity. The study, published in Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders, looked at 125 MS patients either being treated with Mavenclad (cladribine), Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), or Gilenya (fingolimod), or no DMT. A control group of healthy people also was included. Study participants…Continue Reading