Columns

This headline is a bit of a cheat. OK, it’s a big cheat. When you’ve been writing a column for five years, there’s immense satisfaction when you’ve finished it each week. There’s even more when it’s passed through the editing process. Sometimes this can get somewhat tricky. The trouble is…

I often see posts on social media from people with multiple sclerosis asking if crying for no reason is an MS symptom. It can be. Laughing for no reason can be, too. Both can be severe, persistent, unremitting, and unpredictable. The medical name for this is…

It’s been a year and a half since I was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). I still have use of my limbs and am able to walk, albeit shakily, without a walker. My eyesight has not been affected, I drive, and am able to carry on a…

For the last few months, I’ve been mired in something I can only describe as a funk. My job, my family, my faith, my entire life — no matter what aspect we’re talking about, I felt like I was stuck. I mean like soul-in-a-straitjacket stuck. Honestly, I hadn’t felt anything…

Early Detection of Pseudobulbar Affect May Help Ease MS Symptom I often see posts on social media from people with MS asking if crying for no reason is an MS symptom, because it happens to them. I didn’t know that apparently, it is. Laughing, too. This report says…

Now, I know the phrase “I’m going to do my own research” has become a catch-all for conspiracy theorists who are out to prove spurious nonsense, merely by finding even more spurious websites they can whirl down like Alice falling through that there looking glass. Proper research costs serious money…

I speak Morse code. It’s my second language, and I’m fluent. I’ve been speaking Morse code since I got my ham radio license nearly 63 years ago. (My call letters are KR3E.) At first, I received what was sent at a very slow speed of five words per minute,…

School started last week for our three kids. They got to see friends from the last school year, meet their new teachers, and sit at a new desk in their new classrooms. Per tradition, there was no homework assigned the first week, but they still brought home plenty of papers…

Last week, we welcomed a wonderful person into our family. My not-so-little brother got married! The wedding was beautiful — so beautiful that I couldn’t let myself feel it all in the moment. Who wants to hear the loud, ugly crier?! (I did my happy crying loudly in the ladies’…

Anti-CD20 Therapies Help Mount T-cell Response to COVID-19 Vaccines Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been concerns that anti-CD20 therapies, such as Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), may interfere with the ability of a person with MS to fight a COVID-19 infection. But this report says that even if…

I only had my glasses for two years, yet reading anything on my phone was now nigh impossible. Still, it did cure my Facebook and Twitter addiction. Yer, yer, I’m old. (I’m 64, you know.) Sure, I’ve written this before — surely that’s a free pass for us aged folk.

Are you ready to buy your healthcare services from the same place you can buy almost everything else under the sun? Amazon hopes you are. Last month, the giant of online sales announced plans to acquire One Medical, a company that operates more than 125 medical offices across…

AM radio is infamous for bad reception, resulting in nothing but static. You can search the dial frequency by frequency, and it’s all static. Occasionally you will cross a station, but then the car moves, and the reception is lost again. When I’m overwhelmed with the heat, that’s what…

Having grown up in the countryside, I’ve been around animals my entire life. We always had dogs and cats, and I learned how to ride horses. It was tranquil and storybook. When I left home to take a trip or attend university, I experienced a void only the animals in…

Stem Cell Transplant Found to Reduce MS Relapses, Ease Disability This is excellent news for those of us who would like to see stem cell transplant for MS become more available and affordable. These researchers analyzed 50 studies covering a total of 4,831 people with MS, ages 26 to…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or are somehow lucky enough to live on your own desert island, you’ve probably noticed that things are kinda difficult these days. I mean, COVID-19 is still a thing, and now we have monkeypox to deal with. Everyone seems to be…

In December 2019, I was stopped in my tracks, or rather wheels, as I was about to have my third infusion of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), the multiple sclerosis disease-modifying therapy (DMT) that I’d been taking every six months for the past year. My neurologist had decided just a few…

My multiple sclerosis medications cost me a lot, even with good insurance. Yours probably do, too, if you don’t live in a country where the government picks up your drug costs. But now billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is taking a big bite out of the cost of some…

If I were a superhero (or a supervillain, for that matter), I’d have an origin story. As it stands, I’m not even a minor hero in real life, and only a mediocre one when appearing in my own stories. I’m just a guy with multiple sclerosis, and all I…

My brother is getting married in two weeks, so last weekend, I attended my future sister-in-law’s bridal shower in London. When it came to managing my relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) on the trip, I pretty much broke every rule I live by. Surprisingly, taking risks paid off for me, which…

No Link Between MS Severity, Vitamin D-related Mutations: Study Several studies over the years have indicated that there could be a link between a person’s vitamin D level and the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). This study is slightly different. Researchers looked at whether genetic variations related to vitamin…

No, it wasn’t my good wife, Jane, suddenly insisting we just had to take a break. Spontaneity is no longer a question for me. We can only go somewhere that has both a hoist and a profiling bed. Never mind a Molift and a shower chair. It’s…

The other night I dreamed I was standing in a military formation when my leg began to twitch with an MS spasm. I couldn’t stay in line. The top sergeant yelled while the other soldiers laughed. Suddenly, the scene shifted to a balance beam, where I desperately tried to…

Oh, brother, it’s hot! How hot? Well, my thermometer hit “are you kidding me” levels. My experience with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) has taught me that an 0.5-degree rise in body temperature is enough to cause a shutdown. Allow me to explain what it’s like when my…

Intermittent Fasting in MS Leads to Immune Cell, Metabolic Changes Although the National MS Society will tell you there is no such thing as an “MS diet,” many people follow various diets that seem to help them. One that’s been around for several years is intermittent fasting. In…

Back in November, I told you all about my decision to start taking vocal lessons with a coach. Well, I’ve been at it for about eight months or so, taking an hour-long lesson every other week, and while I can tell that I’ve made some progress, I’m still not…

It seems to me from my anecdotal observations that a fair number of people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a gun. When I wrote about the issue a few years ago, I discovered that more people than I expected had both a gun and MS. Additionally, many…

In my last column, I mentioned that I had an intrathecal baclofen pump. I’d make a bad pun, but I don’t have it in me. Spasticity, spasms, and hyperreflexivity were some of my first symptoms, which steadily got worse as my multiple sclerosis (MS) progressed.

As anyone with chronic illness knows, leaving the house requires planning. There’s much more to think about than what’s visible, especially if you’re relying on public transport. In the days preceding last week’s appointment with my multiple sclerosis (MS) nurse, I was contemplating just how long it’d been since…

Hello, all. It’s been almost a year since I’ve written a column, and I missed connecting with you. I’ve been processing the grief of losing my mother in September 2020, withstanding the challenges of living with multiple sclerosis and chronic pain, and valiantly attempting to find the message…