Have You Joined Our MS Forums Yet?

It’s been about nine months since we created the MS Forums section on the Multiple Sclerosis News Today website. It’s a place designed to host conversations about our MS experiences and to find some answers from reliable sources when you have a question. You can even begin your own discussion about a subject of interest by starting what we call a “topic.”

Here are the topic areas on the MS Forums page:

Alternative Treatments: From vitamins to oils and even bee stings, this forum is devoted to exploring therapies beyond the standard, conventional MS care and treatments.

Durable Medical Equipment: Do you have a scooter, walker, crutch, brace, or other assistive device? Thinking about getting one? Here’s where to talk about it.

Living with MS: This is our general posting place. General topics about dealing with the challenges of MS go here.

MS Drugs: This forum is for discussions about disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), including Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), and Tysabri (natalizumab), as well as symptom-treating medications like steroids, baclofen, and others.

Parents and Caregivers: This forum is a place for MS parents and caregivers to talk with each other, share tips, ask questions, etc.

Polls and Quizzes: You never know what interesting quiz might pop up here.

Sports, Exercise, and Travel: Do you ski? Have a good exercise routine? Have you traveled to someplace interesting? Share your tips on how you managed MS while you did it.

Treatments and Trials: This is where you will find information about new research and treatment trials.

Registering for the MS forums

Getting started is easy. The first step is to create a profile. Simply go to the MS Forums page and click “register.” (The register link is on the right side of the page under the “Log In” fields.) After you enter some basic information, you’ll see an option to write a short, 300-word bio about yourself. You don’t need to do that — but we all like to know a little about our MS friends.

From there, you should go to the main forums page. These are public forums, so all posts will be visible to anyone who visits this page. You’re encouraged to reply to other users’ posts or to start a discussion topic of your own. All of the discussions are monitored by me and our other moderator, Debi. We like to jump in and participate.

We also have a private messaging feature so that members can contact each other directly. If there’s something you want to discuss that is more personal, the messaging feature gives you the privacy you need. Simply go to the profile page of the person you’d like to reach out to and click the “private message” tab to start a conversation. You will receive a notification if they reply.

If you’d like to join the conversation, click here. Or, you can click on the “Forums” tab at the top of the website’s homepage.

Debi and I hope you’ll join our conversations.

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Note: Multiple Sclerosis News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Multiple Sclerosis News Today or its parent company, Bionews Services, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to multiple sclerosis.