August 19, 2016 Columns by admin Delays in Seeing Specialists a Growing Barrier to MS Diagnosis and Treatment There can be absolutely no excuse for anyone experiencing the first signs and symptoms of neurological conditions like MS having to wait a long time to see an appropriate specialist, such as a neurologist. Delays in seeing specialists is a complaint often heard from patients in various countries, and it…
August 17, 2016 Columns by admin New Pre-HSCT Treatment May Be the Future, but HSCT with Lower Dose Chemo is Right Choice for MS Patients Now News that scientists in the U.S. are working to find a new pre-HSCT treatment to carry out stem cell transplants without the need for chemotherapy, as published in Multiple Sclerosis News Today, leaves me with mixed feelings. While such a development could potentially be great news and an…
August 15, 2016 News by admin MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News: Aggressive Therapies, Early MRIs, Tysabri and More Here’s my Pick of the Week’s News, as published by Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Best First-Line Treatment for Aggressive MS May Be Equally Aggressive Immunotherapies Sounds like “Fight fire with fire” to me; could be just what is needed. Patients with aggressive onset multiple sclerosis, characterized…
August 8, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News: Antioxidant Therapies, Ocrevus, and Other Notables Here is my Pick of the Week’s News, from articles published on Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Antioxidant Therapies Seen as Promising Approach in Treating MS and Like Diseases Maybe antioxidant research could provide another avenue of MS therapy. A review article published in the British…
August 5, 2016 Columns by admin Wondering How MS Will Affect Me Today Waking up in the morning and facing the world brings a sense of wonder. Not in the sense of awe, just in wondering how MS will affect me today. Is it a good day or a bad day? What will it bring? Like most people,…
August 3, 2016 Columns by admin Stem Cell Clinics Under Critical Scrutiny in US Stem cell clinics are proliferating in the U.S., where there are now 570 in operation, according to a paper quoted by the New York Times. And concerns are being raised that these clinics are often operating and making claims beyond those allowed by the country’s public health regulatory…
August 1, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News: Progressive Dwindling, Vitamin D, Disability Burdens, Talking with Doctors, and My MS Manager App Here’s my Pick of the Week’s News, from stories published on Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Nearly 75% of MS Patients in UK Study Went Through Progressive Decline Prior to Death Very few people living with MS or anyone close by affected by the disease can really…
July 29, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patients in US and UK Face Very Different Treatment We may have international cooperation and worldwide this and that, but the fact remains that countries vary drastically from one another in all sorts of ways. Take healthcare as an example, and the costs of treatment. Yes, we have the World Health Organization and there are various health-related initiatives…
July 28, 2016 Columns by admin Remyelination Studies Abound, But How About a Workable Therapy? Remyelination at the moment is the buzzword to beat all buzzwords in the world of research into, and treatment for, the vicious disease that is multiple sclerosis. Now, as you are reading this, you must have some knowledge of MS and are sure to know about the link between the…
July 27, 2016 Columns by admin Benign MS: If Only We Had Known Then What Researchers Know Now Now they tell me! People diagnosed with what is termed as benign MS can benefit from disease modifying drugs (DMDs), according to a new study. Fourteen years ago, when diagnosed as having MS, the neurologist told me that it was benign. He said it had taken 25 years to progress…
July 26, 2016 Columns by admin ‘I am Cured,’ Says Woman with Aggressive Form of MS After Receiving HSCT in Canada An entry in the comments section of Multiple Sclerosis News Today caught my attention a couple of weeks ago, and peaked my interest. It was a personal tale of one woman’s journey from being paralyzed and told that her condition was “between you and God” to being able to walk again, thanks to HSCT.
July 25, 2016 Columns by admin BLOG: MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News: Nanobionic, Recruiting, Benign, Generic Danger, and ‘Inactive but Progressive’ Here’s my Pick of the Week’s News, as published by Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Nanobionic Clothing Seen to Help Clear Body of Free Radicals Associated with MS and Other Diseases A recent study in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry…
July 22, 2016 Columns by admin Action Is Needed: Costs Limit MS Patients’ Access to DMTs A recent survey of more than 6,000 multiple sclerosis patients in the United States found that health insurance coverage can decide their access to disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), and that that coverage is worsening, leaving a good number struggling to be able to pay for their treatment. As an MS patient myself, I find…
July 21, 2016 Columns by admin ‘My Super Diet Cured My MS! Buy My Book!’ There seems to be general agreement that achieving and keeping an overall level of good health is very important for people living with multiple sclerosis, or with any chronic illness for that matter. And one way to reach that goal, many will say, is to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. It’s at…
July 19, 2016 Columns by admin Would You Take Parasitic Worm Secretions to Prevent Nervous System Inflammation? Do you have any strong feelings about worms? No, not earthworms you find in the garden, or even roundworms or tapeworms that can sometimes be found in animals and humans. What I am talking about is purposely being infected with parasitic worms. OK, it may not be as gross as…
July 18, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News: Remyelination Drug Patent, Gut Microbiota, Statins, Cognition and Depression Quite a mixed bag in the pick of the week’s news: A drug in development, microbiota in the gut, statins and MS, DMTs and cognitive skills, and images of depression. Endece Granted New U.S. Patent for NDC-1308, Therapy to Induce Remyelination in MS This is a bit of an…
July 15, 2016 Columns by admin Patients Need To Know What Drugs Do Inside Our Bodies Oral therapy Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) seems to be emerging as a first-line treatment for relapsing multiple sclerosis – according to Biogen, the company that developed it. That’s good news, and something we need to know. The company agrees that for some time, the long-term effectiveness and safety of this oral…
July 11, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News: Tremors, Tecfidera, MRI, Progression, and Caregivers There have been plenty of interesting stories on Multiple Sclerosis News Today over the last seven days. Here is my Pick of the Week’s news. Tremors Linked to MS Poorly Treated with Symptomatic Medication, Study Finds It will come as no surprise to those of us with MS that disabling tremors,…
July 8, 2016 Columns by admin Have Your Say About Disease Modifying Therapies for RRMS You have just one week from today to have your say about the effectiveness of various disease modifying therapies (DMT) used to treat relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Public comments are welcome in response to an early draft paper that is planned to be the basis for…
July 5, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News Developments of treatments for MS dominate my pick of the week’s news in MS News Today. Included is a vaccine and a new oral drug. Vaccine to Treat Multiple Sclerosis Showing Promise and Soon to Enter Phase 3 Clinical Testing This is something a bit different because, usually vaccines are designed to…
July 1, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patients Want Research to Focus on a Cure, Not Possible Causes As interesting as it can be for patients with MS who hear about work being done to find the causes of multiple sclerosis, what we really want to see is research that is carried out to find a cure. Nothing more, nothing less. Of course, the development of new treatments…
June 30, 2016 Columns by admin To Fight MS, Drink Four Cups of Coffee a Day? Ready to fight MS? Well, you can start first thing every day. So, how do you start your day — a coffee maybe, or a great cup of tea? Tea is my choice but I also enjoy a magnificent cup of Spanish coffee. According to a number of recent studies, coffee and…
June 29, 2016 Columns by admin MS Clinic Using ‘Liberation Therapy’ Being Investigated for Alleged False Claims Allegations that false claims regarding treatment were made to potential patients, as well as one of its proponents having at least one fake degree, are being leveled against a stem cell clinic that was operating in India two years ago. The clinic was not offering HSCT, but rather a form of combination…
June 27, 2016 Columns by admin An MS Patient’s View: Ian’s Review of the Week’s News In my weekly news review, I take a brief look, from my MS patient’s view, at a few of the stories behind the headlines that have appeared on Multiple Sclerosis News Today over the last seven days. 14 Celebrity Ambassadors For the Multiple Sclerosis Cause It looks as…
June 24, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patients Need a Drug Therapy Without Awful Side Effects Never having been offered, let alone received any disease modifying therapy, I can address the subject of disease modifying therapies, and their side effects, with complete impartiality. Of course, the reason for the lack of any medication is because none has yet been approved for use with MS patients who…
June 23, 2016 Columns by admin MS is Linked to Glandular Fever, I Have No Doubt In my mind, MS is linked to glandular fever. From personal experience, there is no room for doubt of any kind. Trouble is, though, that my experience and belief is not proof. And that is why I find that efforts to establish a definite link between glandular fever, often known…
June 22, 2016 Columns by admin Unexpected Diversity of Crucial Brain Cells Discovered in MS Mouse Study Discovery of an unexpected diversity of oligodendrocytes in mice could lead to new insights into mechanisms of degeneration and regeneration in multiple sclerosis and other diseases where myelin is lost. Oligodendrocytes, a type of brain cell that plays a crucial role in diseases such as MS, are more diverse than…
June 20, 2016 Columns by admin MS Weekly News Review – June 20 Welcome to our very first weekly news review. Starting today, it is the intention to use the Monday column of this blog to cast a look back at the previous week’s editorial content of this MS site. In particular, we’ll be looking at the wide range of topics covered and…
June 17, 2016 Columns by admin Optic Neuritis in MS So Difficult To See Optic neuritis is one of the symptoms of which those of us who live with multiple sclerosis on a daily basis know can set us apart from others. We are fully, and often painfully, aware that everyone is different. We all experience a different array of symptoms to similarly different…
June 16, 2016 Columns by admin Alone with MS? Are You? Really? Am I alone with MS? I do wonder that, sometimes; at those times of fatigue and frustration when the darkness envelopes you. When you pound the floor having fallen again; when you curse this monster inside you; and when you cry out “Why me?” But, of course, I am not…
