Columns

Editor’s Note: Bryan Bickell, a second-round National Hockey League draft for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2004, played his last NHL game as a forward with the Carolina Hurricanes in April 2017, some five months after being diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis. Bickell played on the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup-winning teams in…

  When a friend or loved one is going through a tough time, it’s hard to know how best to help. Do you help carry the burden? Would it be better to offer support from a distance and give the person space? Life can be hard and awkward and…

Shooting the breeze after work has been part of my professional life for 27 years. We’re all winding down, yes, but I’m actually still working. New ideas, niggles, gossip are thrown together over drinks. True, many of the younger generation’s beverages these days are non-alcoholic, so they tend not…

I never thought I’d find a subject for this MS column in the technology magazine Wired. But, what do you know? A recent article suggested that the same technology being used to create self-driving cars could (and should) be used to create self-driving wheelchairs. Artist and…

Editor’s note: Tamara Sellman continues her occasional series on the MS alphabet with the second of two columns about terms starting with the letter “M.” Symptoms of MS Marcus Gunn pupil This is a sign of emerging MS that may be discovered during what is known as the…

I find it incredibly ironic that the day after we pause to give thanks for whom and for what we have, we are breaking down doors and fighting one another in the name of Black Friday. While easy to proclaim in the fervency of the season among family…

Though I don’t always use it, I take my cane with me every time we go shopping. I can still shuffle to the cart pickup and drop-off without it and the cart doubles as my walker. Canes can be clunky, aren’t easily stored, and I simply…

  We all have heard that physical activity is important for maintaining health, strength and well-being. It may be even more important for people with MS. Exercise has been shown to improve balance, strengthen brain connections, improve sleep, reduce pain, help…

Well, 460.75 miles (741.5 km), to be exact. When I wrote about April Hester in late September, the headline on my column was “She Has MS and She’s Planning to Hike 500 Miles.” Well, she did it, hiking the Palmetto Trail from Walhalla, in the South…

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is only a few days away. Time truly passes quickly. The holidays are bittersweet for me; I experience both joy and unrest. I believe there are others who can relate. The holiday season can be stressful and I always try to pace myself. In…

It’s that time of year again. The time of year where I keep seeing posts on MS social media posts asking, “should I get a flu shot?” In my honest opinion, yes, definitely! There are certainly different opinions about this, but I think that my opinion is the…

The road to living a grateful life is not always a smooth and paved one. There are curves and roadblocks that can send any thoughts of gratitude far off into the distance. Life is constantly changing…

MMJ Hires Lead Investigator for Phase 2 Trials of Medicinal Cannabis to Treat Progressive MS The real news here is what hiring a lead investigator means. It means that Phase 2 trials of a medical marijuana product to treat MS pain and spasticity are closer to beginning.

Because I come from a retail family — one that, for decades, put in long hours behind cash registers and in stock rooms — Christmas is not a holiday we particularly look forward to arriving. We enjoyed it, when the day came. But often in my youth, we were…

Hypochondria grabs, and it’s very difficult to shake. I spent the past three days eliminating potential reasons for struggling more than usual. Hopefully, it was a urinary tract infection (UTI) that was causing severe lethargy. It might have been at the start; I immediately jumped on a high ph…

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, so I thought it would be a good time to repeat a few of my airline travel tips and add a few new ones. Get the wait-time app Needless to say, you need to get to the airport early on busy travel…

Anniversaries often invoke reflection about the beginning, the journey, and where we now find ourselves. With luck, lessons will have been learned from the invariably good and bad experiences that couple any passage of time. In November 2010, I sat, eyes firmly affixed, as my neurologist read my…

There is often alarm and confusion about the JC virus, how we get it, and what it means to people with multiple sclerosis. This is my quick primer to help address these questions in a very basic way. What is the JC virus? The first person identified with this…

Face it: Understanding MS isn’t easy — even if you have it. There’s no known cause, no cure, no predictability in progression, and while there are common symptoms and manifestations, they affect everyone differently. Some symptoms come and go with no rhyme or reason and…

, Spring has always been my favorite season. There is something about flowers blooming, grass growing and the germination process that invigorates me. Spring reminds me that a new season is coming and it ignites hope. I am discovering that autumn deeply resonates with me as well. When I…

The MS load we carry is heavy. Some of us, unfortunately, must carry it alone. But many of us are fortunate to have someone with whom we can share the weight. It’s National Family Caregivers Month and a new survey shows just how heavy that load can…

Myelin-producing Brain Cells Regenerated Using Stem Cells in Early Study We know that when the myelin coating of our nerve axons is destroyed, MS symptoms result. So a process that halts or reverses that destruction is the goal of a lot of MS research. This is a…

Editor’s note: Tamara Sellman continues her occasional series on the MS alphabet with this first of two columns about terms starting with the letter M. Symptoms of MS Memory problems Memory loss is a common complaint for people with MS. Even for those with no physical or…

Do you have pain? Although prone to subjectivity, I am certain the majority of you silently said yes. I did. I hesitated to write this, as pain, from the definition of it to the management of it, is idiosyncratic. Rather than draw hard and fast lines, I prefer to…

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on readers’ comments about Ocrevus (ocrelizumab). Read part one here. Last week, I responded to a few comments on columns regarding my personal experience with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab). Here are more reader comments and my answers.

This weekend, as I turned back the clocks, searched for my Happy Light, and stared in dismay at the first snowfall of the season, I was reminded that it is the time to give my immune system some extra love. Autumn and winter ― with their requisite cold and…

Have you ever thought about stopping whatever MS treatment you’re using? I have. So has John Corboy. Corboy’s not an MS patient. Rather, he’s a researcher at the University of Colorado’s medical school. And he’s studying whether older patients, if they haven’t had a relapse for several…

#MSParis2017 – Trial to See if Disease-modifying Therapies Not Necessary in Older MS Patients This tops my list this week because, at age 69, I certainly fit the definition of an “older” MS patient. The study is hoping to enroll 300 MS patients in the U.S. who…

The weekend should have started on Friday. My sister-in-law is over from France and there was the first gathering of the clan in a local hostelry. I took the sensible option of staying in as there was an even bigger do at our place on Saturday night. My…

Are you ready for a disaster? Wildfires in the wine country of Northern California exploded so quickly that survivors say they didn’t know they were threatened until flames were nearly at their doors. Hurricane Harvey forced more than 9,000 people into Houston’s main evacuation shelter. It…