The MS Wire

Do Mouse Studies Get Too Much Attention?

Posted on April 29, 2019April 29, 2019

People who cover medical issues often write about mouse studies. These stories can regularly be found on traditional news outlets, both broadcast and print, as well as online platforms. I’m one of the people writing about mouse studies, though I try to be selective and limit my reporting to studies that seem very significant or unusual. Concerns about mouse study reporting has now generated a Twitter feed: @justsaysinmice. James Heathers,…Continue Reading

C. Auris: A Dangerous Fungus if You’re Immune System is Compromised

Posted on April 22, 2019April 22, 2019

Most healthy people probably don’t have to worry about a fungus named Candida auris, or simply C. auris. But if your immune system is compromised, it’s a different story. Health officials say C. auris should be of special concern to people whose immune systems are not at full strength, and I’m one of them. I’m being treated with Lemtrada (alemtuzumab). It, like Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), Mavenclad (cladribine), and aHSCT (autologous hematopoietic stem cell…Continue Reading

Horses Helped My MS. Now Some Need Our Help.

Posted on April 18, 2019April 14, 2019

Have you ever thought about getting on a horse and riding? It may sound impossible for someone with MS, but it’s not. In fact, equine therapy can help your body and your mind, and it’s fun. Several years ago, in my early 60s and not having ridden a horse since I was a kid, I was back in the saddle with an instructor from the Great and Small therapeutic riding…Continue Reading

Controlling Your MS Bladder Problems

Posted on April 15, 2019April 14, 2019

There are two types of people with MS: Those who have bladder problems and those who will have them. That may be an oversimplification but I’d be willing to bet that you, like me, have had that gotta-go-gotta-go problem too many times to count. Sometimes you make it to the loo, sometimes you don’t. And if you do make it in time, the urgency might then become a now-I-can’t-go bladder…Continue Reading

Thinking About Changing Your Neurologist?

Posted on April 8, 2019April 7, 2019

If you’re a member of the baby boomer generation, or if you just like the music of the 1960s and ’70s, you probably know Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover“: “‘The problem is all inside your head,’ she said to me. ‘The answer is easy if you take it logically. I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free. There must be 50 ways to leave your…Continue Reading

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

"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.