January 16, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: COVID-19, Gut Bacteria, Remyelination, Stem Cells Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Hereās a look at whatās been happening: Could COVID-19 trigger MS? Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been scattered reports of people who’ve developed neurological disorders,…
January 13, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Flares, Relapses, Exacerbations: How Much Do You Know? “I was told I’m in a flare-up,” a newly diagnosed person with multiple sclerosis (MS) wrote to a Facebook group the other day. She said the flare-up had been going on “for a while now” and wondered when she could expect it to calm down. After I pondered…
January 9, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: PoNS Online, Foralumab, Masitinib, Gaslighting Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Hereās a look at whatās been happening: Tongue stimulator now easier to obtain A Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNS) is a mouthpiece that mildly stimulates nerves in the tongue that…
January 6, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias FDA Approval of Ublituximab, Now Briumvi, Is Good News The new year is bringing a new disease-modifying therapy (DMT) to the multiple sclerosis (MS) arsenal. Shortly after Christmas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Briumvi (ublituximab), which joins a small group of DMTs that aim to halt MS progression by knocking out certain…
January 2, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias Could Your Hip Pain Be Related to Your MS Steroid Treatments? My hips have hurt for several years. Right now, it’s just a dull ache. But there have been times when it has been a shooting pain. Hip pain isn’t necessarily connected to your multiple sclerosis (MS), but it could be. It might be caused by alterations in your…
December 19, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Brain Stimulation, Bright Light, ABA-101, Foralumab Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Hereās a look at whatās been happening: Possible nonmedicinal treatment for fatigue, spasticity, pain Wouldn’t it be nice to find a treatment that helps people with MS handle three…
December 16, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Stress and MS Are Bad Companions, So Take It Easy This Holiday Season My condo was hit by Hurricane Ian in October. Less than a month later, it was hit again by Tropical Storm Nicole. I have a dog whose bark is shattering and a cat who likes to bite. The car dealer can’t find the title for the…
December 12, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: DMT Costs, Copaxone, EBV, Rituximab Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Hereās a look at whatās been happening: Is cost a factor when deciding DMT use? Cost may be the elephant in the room when people with MS are…
December 9, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias ‘Time Is Brain’: Managing Brain Atrophy With MS This is one of my “nobody ever told me that” columns. I was amazed when I read a comment from one of my “MS Wire” readers recently about brain shrinkage. “I’ve had MS since 2011. I had no idea about brain shrinkage,” she wrote. I guess I shouldn’t have…
December 5, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Sexual Dysfunction, Bladder Problems, AI, and More Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Hereās a look at whatās been happening: A medication that may ease sexual problems for women with MS Sexual dysfunction is common among people with MS, affecting up…
December 2, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Are the MS Stages Still Useful in a Diagnosis? What’s in a name? Does it really matter if your multiple sclerosis (MS) is called relapsing or progressive, or secondary rather than primary? I’ve never thought so, and the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS agrees with me. The panel is calling for new methods…
November 28, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Climate Change, MS Progression, Brain Shrinkage Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Hereās a look at whatās happening: Study reports climate change makes MS symptoms worse Climate change may lead to more perils than rising oceans, harsher storms, and melting ice…
November 25, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Dr. Amazon Takes a Third Jab at Medical Care For the past few years, the company that brings us everything from books to basketballs has been experimenting with doing the same with medical care. Of course, it’s Amazon. In 2018, the company launched a project called Haven in partnership with a pair of financial giants, with the goal…
November 21, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Stem Cell Therapy, EBV Vaccine, Diabetes, Diets Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s happening: Understanding stem cell therapy Researchers in Zurich wanted to understand what happens to the immune system of a person with MS undergoing a…
November 18, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias The MS Hug: A Frightening Embrace You’d Rather Not Have In the 42 years that I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis (MS) I’m glad that I’ve only been hugged twice. I’m talking about the MS hug, and it wasn’t fun. This MS symptomĀ can feel like pressure or pain around the chest, back, or stomach, and it can be…
November 14, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Foralumab, ATA188, Precision Care, PoNS Trial Welcome to āMS News Notes,ā where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s happening: Could a nasal spray join the MS treatment arsenal? Shots, pills, and infusions are approved in the U.S. as disease-modifying therapies for MS,…
November 11, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias These Home Accommodations Can Make Living With MS Easier What do you do to make living with multiple sclerosis (MS) easier? A similar question was posed to readers of the MS News Today Facebook page recently, and about 175 people responded. Even an MS old-timer like me (I’ve been living with the disease for 42 years and…
November 7, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Stem Cell Transplant Versus DMTs, Treatment Efficacy, Cancer Risk, Employment Welcome to “MS News Notes,” where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. The articles in today’s column came from the annual Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held Oct. 26ā28 in Amsterdam. Most…
November 4, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias My New Set of Wheels Is More Accommodating to MS Needs I’ve been feeling like a soccer mom the past month or so, even though I’m a 74-year-old guy. My wife and I are leasing a minivan, the go-to wheels of after-school sports parents. It also seems to be a great vehicle for someone with a disability like multiple sclerosis…
October 31, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: ECTRIMS, Ocrevus, Kesimpta, Epstein-Barr, DMTs Here are a few multiple sclerosis (MS) stories that caught my eye last week. Two of them came out of this year’s Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). Ocrevus treatment More than 250,000 people with MS have been treated with the…
October 28, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Do Doctors Discriminate Against People With Disabilities? “I Am Not The Doctor For You” is the title of a shocking new study published earlier this month in the journal Health Affairs. It reports that a number of doctors acknowledged being uncomfortable with treating people with a disability. The study was conceived of by Lisa Iezzoni,…
October 24, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Nabiximols, Spinal Fluid Biomarkers, Mediterranean Diet, ‘Shaky’ Treadmill Here are a few multiple sclerosis (MS) stories that caught my eye last week: Can nabiximols ease MS spasticity? In “4 Weeks of Nabiximols Found to Ease Spasticity in MS Pilot Study,” Margarida Maia reports some potentially good news for people with MS spasticity. Nabiximols, marketed in…
October 21, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Time for COVID-19 Boosters and Seasonal Flu Shots It’s the time of the season. Every year around this time, I get a seasonal flu shot. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, certainly all of my adult life. But this year is a little different. There are now three flu vaccines preferentially recommended…
October 17, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Cholesterol and MS Progression, Fatigue, Epstein-Barr Note: This column has been updated Oct. 18, 2022, to correct the name of the cholesterolĀ medicine the columnist uses to Pravachol.Ā Here are a few multiple sclerosis (MS) stories that caught my eye last week: Low cholesterol and aggressive MS progression The story “Low Cholesterol May Reflect More…
October 14, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias New Gadolinium-based Contrast Agent Elucirem Will Soon Be Available for MRIs If you have multiple sclerosis (MS), you’ve probably had several MRIs “with” and “without.” The “with” means injecting a contrast agent containing gadolinium into a vein. The agent then travels into the brain, where it “lights up” areas of active inflammation that otherwise would be difficult or impossible…
October 10, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: aHSCT, Iron Rim Lesions, Smell Test, Electrical Brain Stimulation The following multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories caught my eye last week: Stem cell transplant and nerve fiber damage This small study of 43 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosisĀ who underwent autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) in Sweden reports that their disability during the period of…
October 7, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Is Your Disability Ready for an Emergency Like Hurricane Ian? “I thought it would never happen to me.” I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard someone utter that phrase during my four decades in the news media. Last week, it happened to me. About three years ago, my wife and I bought a condo as a…
October 3, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: ODRS Test, Kesimpta, Coping Strategies, Dual Tasking Study Supports MS Disability Test Score as Outcome Measure in Trials Adding two other disability measurements to the commonly used Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is a good idea, not only for trials but also in everyday patient assessments as well. Measuring our level of disability using only…
September 30, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias My Wife and I Hit Some Bumps on Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road It wasn’t easy for my wife, Laura, and I to enjoy one of Elton John’s concerts on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour the other night. Sir Elton was appearing at Nationals Park, the baseball home of the Washington, D.C., Nationals. Having seen a couple of…
September 26, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Gut Bacteria, Strength Training, Robots, Gilenya Patent Gut Bacteria Are Altered in MS, Linked to Disease Progression Several studies have indicated that the composition of gut bacteria in people with MS is different from that of healthy people. But earlier studies didn’t take into account environmental factors, such as where the study subjects lived or what…