The MS Wire

News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

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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

The DMT Tool Could Help You Chose an MS Treatment

DMT tool helps decisions

Sometimes it seems as if people with MS are asked to flip a coin to make what’s arguably the most important decision they make about their treatment: which disease-modifying therapy (DMT) to use. More than 20 DMTs are approved in the U.S. and many of those are available in the rest of the world. There are pills, injections, and infusions, and their efficacy, side effects, and costs vary significantly. One…Continue Reading

Disability Hurdles at the Oscars and in the COVID Fight

What could the Academy Awards and COVID-19 possibly have in common for people with disabilities? Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you. First, the Academy Awards. The documentary “Crip Camp,” about a summer camp for young adults with disabilities, was up for an Oscar. Its co-director and co-star, Jim LeBrecht, has spina bifida and uses a motorized wheelchair. LeBrecht had hoped to ride up a special ramp from his front row…Continue Reading

Older People With MS Need More Respect

older people with ms

As comic Rodney Dangerfield might have said, older people with MS “just don’t get no respect.” By older, I mean those of us who are 55 and up. By respect, I mean attention from researchers and from some neurologists. So, as I approach my 73rd birthday, I have to tip my cap to doctors Eva Strijbis, Anne Kerbrat, and John Corboy for some respect they’re showing to us older people…Continue Reading

Some Like it Hot and so Does My MS

I like it hot

Many people with MS avoid Florida. I crave it. I like it hot. My wife and I finally returned here in early March, escaping dreary, rainy, and windy Maryland after we received our COVID-19 vaccines. Since we arrived, the weather has been wonderful, with few clouds and temperatures warm enough for swimming outdoors. Swimming, or at least pool walking, is important to me. I try to walk at least 500…Continue Reading

My Lemtrada Journey: Three Years After Round 2

Lemtrada journey

It’s been three years since I completed my second round of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) infusions. So, it’s time to take another look at where my Lemtrada journey has taken me. Lemtrada is a monoclonal antibody treatment that wipes out rogue B- and T-cells in the immune system. These cells attack the central nervous system of people with MS. The immune system then rebuilds itself, hopefully with normal cells. Lemtrada is highly…Continue Reading

Mask, Distance and Wash Even After a COVID Shot

COVID shot

I’ve had my shots, so I’m protected,” a friend recently told me, referring to his COVID-19 shot.  My wife and I also have received a COVID shot. More than a month has passed since our second shot of the Moderna vaccine, so we’re also protected — theoretically. But theory doesn’t always match reality, and I’ve been searching for a way to explain to people why we still wear our masks,…Continue Reading

An Ocrevus Patient Dies of PML. Need we Worry?

Ocrevus and PML

The journal JAMA Neurology recently reported that a 78-year-old man with progressive multiple sclerosis died after being diagnosed with the brain disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The man, diagnosed with MS about 30 years ago, had been treated for two years with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), and had no previous immunotherapy.  As of last December, 10 cases of PML had been reported in people being treated with Ocrevus since the U.S. Food…Continue Reading

My Immune System: Suppressed, Compromised or Supercharged?

immune system

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of incorrect information on social media about how multiple sclerosis affects our immune system. Some of it seems to be generated by concerns that MS makes someone more susceptible to COVID-19, or confusion about whether people with MS can safely receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Here are a couple examples: Immunosuppressed or immunocompromised? One person with MS wrote online that he is “immunosuppressed.” But MS does…Continue Reading

COVID Shot #2 and Going Strong

COVID shot #2

It’s been nearly two weeks since my wife and I were back in Bowie, Maryland, for our second shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. It was a sunny and warm afternoon after a windy, cold, and wet month. We hoped that was a good omen. Nina, the same pharmacist who gave us our first shots exactly four weeks earlier, was there again, and our jabs went smoothly. Laura and I…Continue Reading