Columns

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…

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 “L.” Symptoms of MS Lhermitte’s Sign Otherwise known as “barber chair sign,” Lhermitte’s sign describes an intense shock-like pain racing down the back…

I love photographs and have them strewn about and framed throughout the house. From grandchildren and goldens, holidays and travels, each holds a cherished memory. I am happiest taking photos and have cultivated somewhat of a hobby doing so. As I have gotten older, I have (gratefully) discarded the…

Editor’s Note: First in a two-part series on readers’ comments about Ocrevus (ocrelizumab). I switched disease-modifying therapies and began treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) in June. I previously wrote about my reasons for switching, my experiences with the first two doses, and more recently, about any…

Some months ago my wife and I went out for dinner at our favorite sushi place. As is frequently the custom at sushi restaurants, the table setting included chopsticks. No forks. I’ll be painfully honest here: We are both woefully unskilled at using…

Last week was Invisible Illness Awareness Week, which ran from Oct 14-20. Awareness weeks are designed to bring attention to certain conditions, issues and situations. They are directed at creating consciousness and disseminating information. Sadly, invisible illness is a subject that needs much more attention. Those of…

This comes as no surprise to me and probably not to you. MS patients may not always contact their healthcare providers when they’re having a relapse. This information comes via a pair of surveys that were released at the recent ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS conference in Paris. In the first,…

Life is full of curveballs, with a mix of sliders, split-fingered fastballs, and sinkers thrown in. And, it is the curveballs that can be the hardest to take. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the major “curveballs” thrown into my life; I didn’t see it coming and it…

There’s been a lot of interest in the treatments (including natural treatments) for progressive MS that were presented at the ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS conference in Paris last week. Here are a few of our reports involving that research. #MSParis2017 – MedDay’s High-Dose Biotin, MD1003, Improves Disability in Progressive MS…

“We don’t say the ‘D word’ here,” our instructor said. “Just for tonight, let’s all get into downward-facing cat.” The yoga pose wasn’t one I was comfortable in, but then again, so much about yoga makes me uncomfortable — the clothes, the breathy pseudo-spirituality, the jargon, the way…

Since the approval of the first disease-modifying drug (DMD) for MS back in the mid-1990s, another dozen or so have been added as treatment options. But, just as MS affects each patient differently, so do the drugs. Missing has been a tool to follow MS patients and their…

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 L. Symptoms of MS Lesion Lesions are a defining feature of MS. They also are referred to as scars or plaques. These areas of damage…

Last Saturday, I received a FaceTime call from my father who was attending my cousin’s wedding reception. Both he and my mom traveled out of state to attend it, as did the majority of my large extended family. The happy clamor of boisterous chatter made it almost impossible…

Maintaining friendships can be challenging for those with a chronic illness. It may be difficult for friends to understand the changes that take place because of MS. Some changes are quite sudden and visible, others sneak in slowly. Increased fatigue or pain, I find, are most difficult for friends…

Although a smile costs nothing, it can be just what a person needs. Many have encouraged me throughout my life with a smile, thus teaching me how powerful the act of smiling can be. Someone complimented me on my smile this week. I smiled again with a heartfelt…

There’s been some internet buzz recently about the possibility of an over-the-counter allergy drug that helps to repair the myelin that MS damages. The drug is clemastine fumarate, and I suspect that some of that buzz may have been generated by headlines found on Twitter and…