Please forgive me, but I’m too tired to write tonight. My wife had surgery last week, so I’ve been doing a couple of things that I haven’t done much in the 42 years since our wedding: shopping and cooking. (Well, making Harris Teeter ready-to-heat meals, that is. For…

The wing of the small aircraft dipped below the horizon, revealing a strip of sand in the middle of the Bering Sea. On one side, miles of ocean. On the other, a lagoon. It was 1995, and Melissa Cook, her husband Elgin, and their three small children were beginning an…

Are you tired? Really tired? Me, too. Most of us with multiple sclerosis are. How many is most? A small new study of 44 people with one of the progressive forms of MS found that the answer is a little over 86%. (I’m surprised the number isn’t higher.) They…

It’s summer in the U.K., and it’s hot. That’s cause for celebration for everyone but us. It’s actually the hottest June day since 1986. Heat immediately spikes my fatigue. For some of us, the cold does the same. Thankfully, not me — I get the winter off. According…

I’m an old guy, and it’s been a looonnnggg time since I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This, however, is not the case with BJ Baker. BJ is in his late 20s, and was having a very bad day. He was too tired to do a (seemingly) simple…

IQuity Taking Orders for RNA-based Blood Test That Can Detect MS Early with 90% Accuracy Can it be that there’s now a blood test that can help diagnose MS? This company says it has one and doctors can order it. For a disease that’s always been…

Aside from a few unpleasant moments, I enjoyed my time as a medic in the U.S. military — so much so that when I began to slow down noticeably, I decided to continue in that field by applying to become a physician assistant (PA). I initially wanted to…

This is my 823rd column for Multiple Sclerosis News Today. It is also my last. Over the past seven and a half years, I’ve written about multiple sclerosis (MS) fatigue and frustration, about treatments and travel, about neurologists (good and bad), stress,…

Einstein said that time is relative, and as I age (gracefully, I hope), I’ve found that to be true. For example, I frequently find myself referring to events that occurred a decade or more in the past as happening “just the other day.” In my mind, I’m still…

I’m just back from walking our dog. My wife, Laura, rescued him about a year ago, and when she heard his name was Toby, like Tobias, she thought it was a sign that he was the dog for us. We’ve had dogs before, but I’m not getting any younger or…

Any British comedy aficionados among you will know “He’s fallen in the water” is the most famous of all the innumerable catchphrases of “The Goon Show.” That show was the root of Monty Python and every bit of the new wave of comedy that swept through our country.

Are you sitting down? I am, but I’ve been doing too much of that this year. For the past six months, I haven’t been using our community exercise room. I haven’t been able to swim. I haven’t gone outside that much. I’ve become a couch potato, and you know why:…

The end of the year is incredibly difficult. We already have to put up with more than others because of our MS.  In addition to that, the weather changes, the clocks turn back, and there is less sunlight, meaning vitamin…

Maybe I should have called this one “Short and Sharp 2.” Yes, I’ve had another relapse, following my last one in May. I can no longer clean my own tail, and the present regime is literally to “s**t the bed!” I’m using a lot of exclamation points here,…

“At the center of it all” is the dignity of allowing myself to retire with grace. And it only took a world-shattering event to get me to come to my senses! I’d been running, directing, producing, and sometimes writing (usually when comics got desperate with a 15-minute deadline. We…

As I sit down to write this week’s column, it’s hard for me to concentrate. I’d planned to write about new MS mobile apps, but I can’t get my brain to focus on the task. I’ve been bragging about how I’ve been feeling sharper and able to concentrate better the…

My nose started running about a week before the sledgehammer hit. Then came a chesty cough, not yet as serious as the one that had my wife wheezing, but I was worried that I’d soon catch up with her. I didn’t…

Editor’s note: “Need to Know” is a series inspired by common forum questions and comments from readers. Have a comment or question about MS? Visit our forum.  This week’s question is inspired by the forum topic “How do you feel about journaling? It’s a good way to keep track…

I just saw a couple of “golden tumbleweeds” swirl past my feet. My attempts at keeping a clean house are no match for Abby’s ever-falling golden locks, and I am OK with that. There was a time when those two balls of hair would have elicited profound anxiety. The anxiety…

I’ve had a cold for two weeks. So, I’ve been more tired than usual. Too tired, in fact, to write the column that was supposed to post last Tuesday. (I apologize to all of you who wait, with bated breath, for the appearance of the MS Wire each…

Fatigue is a topic I have not wanted to write about. It’s not because the subject isn’t important. As I hemmed and hawed about this week’s column topic, fading in and out of an annoying cognitive fog brought on by increased MS fatigue, the task-minded side of me…

For those who read my column, I am certain you can see I am an emotional writer. This is a difficult column to write. I have been thinking about end-of-life decisions for months. I am reminded of my mortality each time I visit the hospital and I’m asked…

I’m already tired of hearing about New Year’s resolutions. If you’re like me, you find that for those who spend their social media time listing goals in earnest, there’s a smidgen of luxury to their actions. After all, most of these goal-making champions are not chronically ill. They don’t have to think…

Those of us with “invisible illnesses” are no strangers to this subject. Most of us have experienced situations in which we were judged, insulted and scorned based on people’s opinions and perceptions. We are told that we don’t look sick and we are placed in situations where we feel…