The MS Wire

I’m Worried About Affording My Healthcare. You Should Be Too.

Posted on April 1, 2019March 30, 2019

I rarely write anything involving politics. But I’m very worried about the latest challenge to the ability of Americans to find affordable healthcare. I struggled with how to express my concerns about affording my healthcare while still maintaining my reporter’s objectivity. I struggled because I’m fortunate. I had access to a very good health insurance plan from my employer for many years. Then, not long after retirement, I became eligible…Continue Reading

How Many Medications are too Many?

Posted on March 25, 2019March 23, 2019

Have you ever heard of the word “polypharmacy”? I saw the word for the first time today. It’s generally defined as taking many medications together. There’s been debate over how many is “many,” but a number generally used is five or more. That describes me. I take six prescription drugs every day. Four of them are directly related to my MS, the fifth is to moderate my cholesterol, and the…Continue Reading

Things I Wish I’d Known Before My MS

Posted on March 18, 2019March 18, 2019

A recent article in The New York Times hit the nail on the head when it comes to describing some things I wish I’d known about living with MS before I started living with MS. But the article isn’t about MS. The Times‘ Tessa Miller writes about Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disorder. Like MS, Crohn’s is an autoimmune disease. Instead of attacking the central nervous system, however, it…Continue Reading

My Lemtrada Journey Takes Me into a Florida Swamp

Posted on March 11, 2019March 10, 2019

My wife and I joined our son and his family on a tour of a Southwest Florida nature preserve a couple of weeks ago. It required riding on an old school bus turned swamp buggy for a little over an hour and a half. There were plenty of gators, wild hogs, egrets, and storks in the swamp — but no restrooms. So, the bumpy buggy ride really put my bladder…Continue Reading

Selma Blair and Her Cane Put MS in an Oscar Spotlight

Over the past few months, I’ve written a couple of times about actress Selma Blair and the very public way in which she’s been handling her MS diagnosis. When Blair went public with her MS last October she did it on Instagram, writing, “I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we…Continue Reading

I’d Rather Live With My MS Than Battle It

A former colleague recently asked me, “How are you doing in your battle with MS?” It was a legitimate question, not one of those throwaway lines of mock concern that we often hear. We were discussing the death of a former colleague who had been diagnosed with MS in 1996. She was just 59 years old when she left us earlier this month.” Annie’s death and the “how are you…Continue Reading

Debating Whether to Stop Your MS Medication

Thinking about changing your M S medication

I see a lot of reasons why people stop, or refuse to start, an MS medication. “Thinking of stopping the…meds. Sick of the shots and how they hurt to take them” “I stopped all of them….all multiple times. It takes too long for an appointment and I tapered off “ “Half the s**t will kill you” “My body and my choice” “The side effects are worse than the disease” Forty…Continue Reading

Hit MS Hard and Fast, Suggests New Study

How quickly to start a disease-modifying therapy after an MS diagnosis is a question that I frequently see when browsing online. It goes hand in hand with which DMT is best to start with. There are many things to consider when making that decision. Here’s a study that may help you weigh the benefits and risks hitting your MS hard and fast. Any DMT is better than none The study,…Continue Reading

Mindfulness: Attacking Your MS With Your Mind

Posted on February 4, 2019February 2, 2019

Can you use your mind to attack your MS, just as you use things such as medications and physical therapy? Some people who believe in the benefits of mindfulness think you can, at least to some extent. Mindfulness is defined as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us,”…Continue Reading

Accessible Living With MS – A New Idea

When my wife and I were remodeling our two-story home many years ago, we made a few accessibility changes with my MS in mind. For example, we enlarged a first-floor half-bath to include a roll-in, accessible shower. We also installed a higher toilet and made sure there was space to fit a wheelchair next to it. If it became necessary, I could turn our first-floor den into my bedroom. It…Continue Reading

"People newly diagnosed with MS will truly benefit from this book, while those of us who’ve lived with MS for a while will wish we’d had it ourselves!…Neurologists should consider keeping a copy of this book in their waiting room because their patients are going to need it." - Tamara K. Sellman, reviewing for Multiple Sclerosis.net.

The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox is designed for MS "newbies" but it's great info for everyone. I combine more than 40 years of living with MS with some easy to understand info about diagnosis, treatments, visiting the neuro, relationships, mobility aids, travel and more…a lot of what you get in this blog. A paperback and an e-book are available on Amazon.