News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
It’s comforting to have this guy, with his floppy ears, stretched out next to me as I sit here writing about my MS. I don’t know why but the fact that Joey, who is really my wife Laura’s cocker spaniel, has chosen to nap next to me is special. I’m not usually a softy for this kind of thing and Joey can be a real pain in the neck when…Continue Reading
Are people with MS more susceptible than the average person to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19? And if COVID-19 attacks them, what’s the likely course of their illness? What about COVID-19 and disease-modifying treatments? Doctors from around the world are collecting information right now to try to answer these questions. While it’s still early to reach any conclusions, I’ve been monitoring the internet and listening to Zoom meetings held by…Continue Reading
Happy Lemtrada anniversary to me! It’s been two years since I completed my second round of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) infusions, and I’m happy to say that the results have been good. Not everyone’s experience with Lemtrada will mirror mine, but I don’t think I’m much different than most. My brain MRI hasn’t shown any new, enhanced, or active lesions since before my first treatment, although that had been stable for several…Continue Reading
Dr. Aaron Boster assessed the gait of his multiple sclerosis patient, who walked forward and back. Earlier, he had checked the patient’s seventh cranial nerve by having him close his eyes tightly and smile. Then, Boster checked the ninth, 10th, and 12th cranial nerves by having him stick out his tongue and wiggle it back and forth. A motor exam followed, which included flopping the hands palm-up and palm-down, and…Continue Reading
Jason Hargrove is the face of COVID-19. Hargrove was a city bus driver in Detroit. I say “was,” because Hargrove died from COVID-19 two days ago, about two weeks after a passenger boarded his bus and began a series of uncovered coughs. It so upset the 50-year old that he took out his smart phone and, between bus runs, vented for over eight minutes in a live post on Facebook.…Continue Reading
A number of websites are currently offering online coronavirus screening. These aren’t a full-scale test. The online sites read symptoms that you enter and then use artificial intelligence to determine how likely it is that you’re positive for the virus. But there’s a bit of a problem. An investigation by a pair of reporters from STAT reveals that different websites give different responses to the same set of symptoms. For example,…Continue Reading
What’s happening if you have MS and you’ve tested positive for COVID-19? How will the disease affect your disease-modifying therapies and your MS? How will the DMTs affect COVID-19? Dr. Barry Singer, (@drbarrysinger), a neurologist who directs The MS Center for Innovations in Care in St. Louis, has posed that question to his Twitter followers. And the responses that Singer has received, from around the world, from people with MS who…Continue Reading
Myeliviz is the name of a new imaging agent approved for a clinical trial in the U.S. It has the potential to make the process of diagnosing multiple sclerosis faster and tracking the disease progression easier. Myeliviz does this by providing doctors with a better picture of damaged myelin — the cause of many of our MS symptoms. The procedure is similar to that of an MRI with contrast. Myeliviz…Continue Reading
Feb. 29 was Rare Disease Day. It’s a day on which those in the rare disease community attempt to raise awareness about their diseases. I don’t think MS should be included. MS isn’t rare. About 2.5 million people worldwide have multiple sclerosis. When I was working in a newsroom of about 100 people three of us had MS. And everyone seems to know someone with our disease. It is rare,…Continue Reading
A link between people with MS and smoking has been highlighted by statistics released by the Public Health Service in the UK. The numbers are part of a group of statistics that are intended to help health commissioners and providers assess “the needs of patients with MS and the provision of health and care services,” according to the government’s website. Primary findings Nearly 106,000 people in England have MS. That’s…Continue Reading