News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis
“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?” Could Paul McCartney have imagined what life would be like at 64 when he wrote that iconic lyric as a teenager, or when the Beatles recorded it in their early 20s? I never could’ve imagined it when I was a teen, or even when I was 40. Later this week I’ll be 75, more than a decade…Continue Reading
My wife hates to cook, except for a big Thanksgiving turkey. I don’t know how to cook, except for scrambled eggs or meat on a grill. So for many years, our meals have pretty much been restaurant (eat-in or carry-out), ready-to-heat from the grocery store, frozen (lasagna or pizza), and, for my wife, microwaveable Keto diet food. It’s not very healthy, and probably worse for someone with multiple sclerosis. At…Continue Reading
Times, they’ve been a-changin’ for disease-modifying therapies. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1980, there were no DMTs. The first, the injectable Betaseron (interferon beta-1b), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1993 for relapsing-remitting MS. A few years later, I was thrilled to be included in the Phase 3 clinical trial of Avonex (interferon beta-1a), the second injectable, even though it required a self-injection…Continue Reading
I’m drinking again, more than I have in years. It’s not the hard stuff, though; not even beer or wine. It’s just plain water. That may sound crazy for someone like me who has bladder problems due to multiple sclerosis. For many of us with MS, we think that water is something to avoid — mostly so we can reduce those gotta-go, gotta-go moments that have us sprinting for a…Continue Reading
I nearly jumped for joy — well, I would’ve if I could’ve — when I saw a new TV commercial for the Expedia travel company the other day. It shows a woman who’s obviously had enough of winter’s cold, ice, and snow. She is desperate to escape to warmer climes — and needs to take her wheelchair with her. Been there, done that? I have, but I’d never seen an…Continue Reading
It’s been almost two and a half years since my first COVID-19 vaccine — eight months since my most recent booster — and my COVID-19 antibodies seem to still be doing their thing. I know this because, after having nine test tubes of blood drawn, the lab results are back and I’m looking good — a robust antibody response. The lab work was part of the COVER-MS study, run by…Continue Reading
“What can Dr. Crayton help you with today?” I was starting my annual multiple sclerosis checkup with my neurologist, and before I met with her, I got this question from her MS nurse. I was stumped. I’d never been asked that before. I think most people with MS would have a list of things they could rattle off — help me with my bladder problems, suggest a treatment that will…Continue Reading
I’ve done quite a bit of flying, for business and pleasure, over the 42 years I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis. It’s not easy traveling by air with my electric scooter, and I can’t imagine trying to fly with a 450-pound power wheelchair. Actually, I don’t have to imagine. I have some friends who use power chairs and they’ve shared some stories. Michael Morale tells me that, on a trip to…Continue Reading
We all know that the difficulty many of us with multiple sclerosis have walking can be caused by lesions that damage the nerves along the spinal cord. What if an electronic bridge could be built to carry nerve impulses over those damaged areas? That concept is being investigated as a way to help people who’ve been paralyzed by a spinal cord injury. Could it also apply to people with MS?…Continue Reading
Since the early days of the COVID-19 vaccination program, disinformation about whether the vaccines can induce multiple sclerosis has swirled around social media. Recently, there’s been a resurgence of this type of post, sparked by a report published on the World Health Organization (WHO) website titled “Covid-19 vaccination can induce multiple sclerosis via cross-reactive CD4+ T cells recognizing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and myelin peptides.” One post on Twitter, sharing that…Continue Reading