Columns

How do you feel at the start of a new year? I love it, because I enjoy defining my intentions and setting my goals for the coming days. Everything seems fresh and new, and the possibilities are endless. I make a point to avoid New Year’s resolutions, though.

One of the key considerations when choosing a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) is how much it will disrupt your life. It’s one of several factors that need to be evaluated. Unlike shots and pills, infusion treatments can require a significant amount of time. That’s why the U.S. Federal Drug Administration’s December…

Psalms 23 has always been my comfort when I needed respite from the hardships of life and chronic illness. My mother used to read that Bible passage to me as a child, and now it has become a cornerstone of my faith. Today, I find myself in the valley of…

“She smelled amazing!” I commented to my oblivious husband as we walked our muddy dog back home after our daily walk. “Did you smell that lady as she walked past us?”  Unfortunately, the lady was too far gone for me to awkwardly run up and ask…

Stem Cell Therapy Shows 2-year Benefit for Progressive MS Patients in Phase 1 Trial Stem cell studies always catch my eye. This very small study involves people treated with their own bone marrow, which was collected and expanded to give it the ability to modulate the MS immune response…

I don’t know about you all, but when I first learned I had multiple sclerosis, I felt utterly powerless. Weak. Beaten down. Cornered. Cowed. Yes, I experienced all of these negative feelings (and a hundred more besides) in the first year or two after my diagnosis. But after time, I…

Santa refuses to use email! At least letter-sending is a thousand years older than he is! (Via Shutterstock) Well, 2020 was a weird year for everybody. It was even weird for magical creatures, as these days, an awful lot of people believe they exist! It’s tough now to hide.

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:…

If I were using a wheelchair, would you question why I use a handicapped placard? Perhaps some (or all) of the condemnation I now receive would diminish. Maybe the notes left on my windshield would not be written. Perchance, it might temper some of the ugly comments spoken to my…

What would happen if you switched off all of your devices for a day? Phones, tablets, laptops, TVs — all of them switched off. Could you do it? How would it feel? What would you do instead? My…

MS Patients Urged to Enroll in Clinical Trial Assessing Chronic Fatigue Treatments My “MS Wire” column 10 days ago reported on a study of MS fatigue treatments that compared three medications with a placebo. The study found that none of the medications were much better than the placebo.

Don’t be so overdramatic, my wife always tells me. But as I’ve spent 30 years of my life as a pseudo-luvvie, I’ve earned the right to have a good and proper flounce if I want one. It was a weekend of severe illness. A urinary tract infection (UTI) poleaxed…

Do you plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine? I do.  One is now available to some residents of the U.K., and approval in the U.S. of one or more likely will happen soon. Though the U.S.-based National Multiple Sclerosis Society has said only that people with MS should consider…

For many of us, odd symptoms and strange feelings may fill our lives for years before we are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Others may be diagnosed more quickly, which flips our world overnight. I was diagnosed in three…

Review Study Examines Factors That Affect MS Patients’ Quality of Life What affects the qualify of your life as someone who lives with MS? Fatigue is at the top of my list, followed by difficulty walking. Now, COVID-19 plus gray, winter weather have added a bit of depression. So,…

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be…

I’m surprised I get anything done! Luckily, the parent company of Multiple Sclerosis News Today is in the U.S., so I didn’t have to write this column last week, due to Thanksgiving celebrations — even though I’m British. I also got two days off from being an MS News Today…

I’ve been tired all day, which is nothing new, as fatigue and multiple sclerosis go hand in hand. It’s been one of my primary symptoms since I was diagnosed in 1980. To counter it, I’ve taken Provigil (modafinil) for many years. Initially, taking 100 mg in the morning helped…

The holiday season has always been a time of reflection. The year passes by in a montage of memories. I am reminded of the past 11 months. The highs and the lows. My hopes and my aspirations. Those lives that have been lost and those that have just begun.

“I’m too hot!” My brain was turning to mush as my body seemed to grow heavier. I could feel the energy draining out of me. This isn’t an uncommon complaint when the weather grows hotter during the summer. Most people…

Tysabri Affects Immune System Beyond Known MS Target, Study Finds Tysabri (natalizumab) slows multiple sclerosis progression by blocking some immune cells from entering the central nervous system, where they attack the myelin coating of nerves. Yet this study shows that Tysabri may also significantly reduce the number of proteins…

A pet is the most loyal companion a person can have.  I’m currently sitting in my dad’s home office and typing away on my laptop. It’s nice to have a change of scenery. I brought my tiny dog, Lucy, with me as usual.

Smartphone Typing Patterns May Be Tool for Monitoring MS Progression, Study Finds This is an interesting concept that makes sense. Like the nine-hole peg test that some neurologists use to test finger dexterity, and like some apps that attempt to measure this, monitoring how quickly, and in what manner…

Well, friends, we are coming to the end of 2020. Thanksgiving is next week, and believe it or not, Christmas is just around the corner. And while I can’t say I’m grateful for all the challenges this very weird and wacky year has presented me with, I remain so for…

My travails with MS invariably deal with what it does to me. This week, dear reader, it’s what I did to my jolly old self! I’ve got a daily light exercise routine designed for me by an occupational therapist (OT) and a physiotherapist. Why two professionals? Well, the…

The temperature’s dropping. The wind is whipping. It’s time for my wife, Laura, and me to head south, leaving cold, uncomfortable Maryland for the welcoming warmth of southwest Florida. Or is it? Though I once swore I’d never become a snowbird, a few years ago, we spent a week on…

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…

Neurofilament Light Levels at First MS Event Can Predict Long-term Brain Atrophy Researchers are looking at a protein that’s released into the body’s fluids when neurons become damaged. They hope it will help them predict — as far as 10 years down the road from the first indication of…

The other day, I was watching an arts documentary instead of another repeat of a movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was about John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” of which I’m a fan. The headline for a column I’d been mulling for some time about MS mouse research…

The Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF) has issued new recommendations about how people with MS should adjust their daily lives because of the coronavirus pandemic. The MSIF, a network of national MS societies from around the world, first issued COVID-19 recommendations last spring. But much has been learned…