March 16, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Too Much Buzz over that Study About Eating Fish and MS? I’m not a fish eater. I never have been. Unless the seafood is lobster, shrimp, clams, or crab cakes (pickin’ the crabs is too much work), I’m not interested. Is the fact that I eat very little fish one of the reasons why MS attacked me about 40 years…
March 13, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Can Be a Kids’ Disease, Too (Part 2) After I wrote about pediatric MS earlier this month, a reader commented: “I think it would behoove your editorship to follow up to address to audiences…symptoms that typify the early-age demographic.” That’s a good point. So, I drilled deeper into how MS is handled in people younger than…
March 12, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Zinbryta, Fish Oil, MS Associate Certification, Blood-brain Barrier Biogen and AbbVie Voluntarily Withdraw Marketing Authorizations for MS Therapy Zinbryta You may have heard about this already, so forgive me if it’s not new to you, but it’s important information. A dozen cases of encephalitis or meningoencephalitis have been reported in patients using Zinbryta, and…
March 9, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Getting Cash Back for Choosing Medical Services You know about credit cards that offer you cash back for the items you buy. How about getting cash back for selecting specific healthcare service providers for things like medical tests and lab work? Go to your insurance company’s website, then enter your zip code and the service…
March 6, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Can Be a Kids’ Disease, Too The age at which a person is diagnosed with MS is usually between 20 and 50, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But it can be diagnosed in people much younger. In fact, of the estimated 400,000 people with MS in the United States, 8,000-10,000 are…
March 5, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Epstein-Barr Virus, Gilenya, Naltrexone, Medical Marijuana Epstein-Barr Virus Found in Brain Cells of Many MS Patients, Study Reports This study is yet another of several over the years that have suggested that there’s some sort of link between the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis (MS). (Fatigue and muscle weakness are among the…
February 27, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias What’s Hot and What’s Not Among MS Therapies? The newest kids on the MS block, disease-modifying therapies (DMT) such as Genentech’s Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) and Sanofi Genzyme’s Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), are attracting a lot of interest these days. But, some DMTs that have been around for more than two decades are still being prescribed by a lot of neurologists.
February 26, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Mediterranean Diet, Medical Marijuana, Ocrevus, Myelin Repair Pilot Study Is Testing Whether Mediterranean Diet Can Help MS Patients There’s been a good deal of news recently about the possibility that bacteria in our stomachs have an impact on our MS. There’s also been talk, for a long time, about whether certain diets can improve…
February 23, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias How Bad Are Proposed Changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act? My knee was jerking the other day. It wasn’t my MS, it was my knee-jerk reaction to the passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill called the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (HR 620). Before the vote, people with disabilities demonstrated inside the…
February 20, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Looking for Healthcare Answers on the Internet Can Drive You Nuts I know, I know. I write about health issues on the internet, so I shouldn’t be discouraging people from looking for answers here. But, searching the internet to match symptoms with a diagnosis can be a real anxiety booster. Emily Sohn makes a solid case for that…
February 19, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Stem Cell Trial, Medical Marijuana, Myelin Repair, Tysabri Study Stem Cell Treatment Benefits Three-fourths of MS Patients in Phase 1 Trial This is encouraging news for MS patients hoping to see some action in the stem cell area. A Phase 1 mesenchymal stem cell trial is reporting positive results, and a Phase 2 trial is underway in…
February 16, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Peeking Behind the Curtain at Medical Insurance Decisions Several years ago, I tried to get my insurance company to approve a functional electronic stimulator (FES). It’s a durable medical device that significantly improved my left foot drop. My request was well-supported by documentation from my neurologist and the physical therapist who was evaluating me for…
February 13, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Where Are the Handicapped Parking Spots? It’s nice when a negative experience can be turned into one that’s positive. I think that’s the result for a wheelchair-using MS patient following a problem she had at the Mall of America a few days before the Super Bowl. For those not familiar with the Mall of America,…
February 12, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: 3rd Round of Lemtrada, Ampyra’s Possibilities, Long-term MD1003, Possible PML Treatment #ACTRIMS2018 – Third Course of Lemtrada Improves Relapse, Disability in MS Patients, CARE-MS II Trial Shows The normal treatment regimen with Lemtrada is a series of two treatment courses, with the second infusion course given 12 months after the first. A “selling point” for this disease-modifying therapy (DMT) is…
February 9, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Good News for Tysabri Users Who Are JCV Positive One of the many disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that I’ve been on over the many years of my treatment for MS is Tysabri (natalizumab). It worked well, holding the progression of my MS at bay for the several years that I received the infusions. I’d probably still be on it…
February 6, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Is It Time to Change Your MS Doctor? The other day, as I cruised around various MS internet groups, I came across a lament that I’ve seen before. But this one, for some reason, jumped out at me. A woman with MS wrote that she was “fortunate” that her RRMS symptoms were relatively minor: fatigue, numbness in…
February 5, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Testosterone and MS, Ocrevus in the UK, Enhanced MRI Technology, Ublituximab Trial Results Researchers Identify Testosterone-triggered Molecule That Protects Men From MS This finding is an extension of research that has already indicated that a higher testosterone level reduces the chance of a person developing multiple sclerosis (MS). This new research focuses on a testosterone-related molecule that, these…
February 2, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Affording Your MS … or Not, You’re Likely Paying Either Way Have you been in this Catch-22? You had great medical insurance when you were working. But, you’re not working anymore. Your insurance now comes with a $6,000 deductible and it doesn’t cover any medications. That $6,000 is about a fifth of your yearly income. You took early retirement because of…
January 30, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias The Big Pharma-Government Revolving Door Is Spinning You may have heard that there’s a new secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the United States. HHS is the department that guides the nation’s healthcare programs and policy, and the person in charge has a huuuge influence over the cost and scope of the medical care…
January 29, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Medical Marijuana Gum, Brain Stimulation and Fatigue, Gilenya Study, Invisible Diseases Holland Approves Clinical Trial Plans for AXIM’s Cannabis-based Gum for MS Pain and Spasticity Because the state where I live has only recently approved the use of medical marijuana, I haven’t had the opportunity to try it for my MS. From what I’ve read, various blends of…
January 26, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Cooking Dinner when MS Fatigue Has You Down The TV was on as background noise the other day, but the words of the commercial cut right through my noise filter. With a little drum beat in the background, a woman’s voice was saying, “The doctor called me and she was, like, ‘You have multiple sclerosis.'” “Another drug…
January 23, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Who Are You to Tell Me What MS Therapy I Need? I’m used to seeing insurance companies here in the United States make decisions about MS therapies, including refusing to pay for certain treatments unless other, less expensive ones are tried first. These, of course, are decisions that should be made between patients and their doctors, not by insurers.
January 22, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Ocrevus in the EU, Salt and Cognitive Problems, Searching for Myelin, Tecfidera Tolerance European Commission Approves Ocrevus to Treat RRMS, PPMS Throughout EU This is a biggie. It’s been nearly a year since the FDA approved the use of Ocrevus here in the U.S. Finally, it’s been given the green light in Europe. Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and various countries in…
January 19, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Heavy-hitting MS Therapies Now Being Used Sooner for Some Patients I’m sitting in Florida and the start of spring training is only about six weeks from now, so please forgive a baseball analogy: The heavy-hitters of the MS-fighting treatments, the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), are moving up in the lineup. Five treatments currently are in the mAbs class: Ocrevus,…
January 16, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias A Tough Year to Fight the Flu I’m fighting a cold. I’m coughing and I’m congested. I’m hoping it’s not the flu. This is not a year to get the flu. The type of flu circulating in most of North America right now is the H3N2 variety. And, in the words of Helen Branswell…
January 15, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Rituxan, Medical Marijuana for Canadians, Extavia, Atira Trial Newly Diagnosed MS Patients Stay Longer on Rituxan Than Other Therapies, Study Finds This is a study that identifies which disease-modifying drugs new MS patients stuck with and which they gave up. And, why they made those choices. But the study is small and was limited to…
January 12, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Worrying About the Dye Used in My MRIs The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety alert about gadolinium, the dye that’s injected when our doctors order a brain MRI “with and without” contrast. The dye provides the contrast that “lights up” areas of MS inflammation in the brain. But the FDA advisory is…
January 9, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Diagnosing MS Faster and Better As we all know, MS is difficult to diagnose. Put another way, it’s easy to misdiagnose. There’s no single diagnostic test for MS. Neurologists use their clinical examination, the patient’s medical history, and lab tests. They also rely on MRI imaging of the brain and sometimes of the…
January 8, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: MRI Dyes, Diagnosis Criteria, Handwriting and MS, Progressive MS Research FDA Warns of Risks Linked to Gadolinium-based Contrast Agents Used in MRI Scans I had a brain MRI a couple of weeks ago and I asked the technician about the FDA warning about the dye that she was going to inject. She wasn’t aware of it. I…
January 5, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias My Lemtrada Journey: A New Year’s Update Happy new year to all. The start of the new year seems like a good time to assess what my journey has been like since my first round of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) back in December 2016. The road has had bumps and hills and dips. But, overall, Lemtrada has…