MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Vitamin D Deficiency, Emotions, Neurostimulation
Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Early Cognitive Issues in Study
I’ve taken a vitamin D supplement for many years because numerous studies have shown a correlation between low vitamin D levels and MS. My levels have been normal for years, and I assume the supplement has helped. Even so, I’ve dealt with “cog fog” off and on during my four decades of living with MS. So, did my vitamin D levels matter? This study was restricted to newly diagnosed people. Did I begin my vitamin D supplements too late?
Low vitamin D levels in the bloodstream are associated with slower information processing speeds in people with early-stage multiple sclerosis (MS), a study suggests.
“Our data support the hypothesis that vitamin D is involved in cognition in MS,” its researchers concluded.
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Patients Feel Emotions Intensely But Can Struggle to See Them in Others
In this small study, 25 women with relapsing-remitting MS and others in a control group were given the Florida Affect Battery, which assesses facial and emotion recognition. Those with MS did more poorly than those in the control group on two parts of the test: facial affect selection, which involves identifying facial expressions named by the examiner, and facial affect matching, a test that requires matching a picture of an emotional face to another face with the same expression. Those with MS also had more difficulty discriminating between angry and neutral expressions, and discriminating between anger and sadness. How does this match up with the way we identify emotions in others?
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have more difficulty recognizing emotions in others, and they experience emotions more intensely than healthy people, a small study found.
The study, “Emotional experience is increased and emotion recognition decreased in multiple sclerosis,” was published in Scientific Reports.
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Neurostimulation via Neubie Aids Movement With MS, Company Says
The Neubie device provides electrical stimulation to create neuroplasticity, which in effect rewires brain connections to improve a patient’s range of motion and strength. In the press release quoted in this story, physical therapists said that six patients who were treated with it “made measurable progress,” but the release doesn’t specify what that progress was or how it was measured. It also doesn’t provide a price tag for this three-day treatment session led by physical therapists who follow the company’s NeuFit method. The retail price of the Neubie device is $18,000.
Neubie, a neuromuscular electrical stimulation device developed by NeuFit, led to measurable improvements in function and strength in the six multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who participated in a three-day physical therapy bootcamp, the company announced in a press release.
The Neubie device is part of the NeuFit method to re-educate the neuromuscular system and help to ease chronic pain, and allow people to heal faster and perform better. The patented devise, cleared for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, works by sending direct electrical signals through the skin to nerves at locations where patients are experiencing pain or difficulties with muscle movement.
These signals are meant to change the neurological patterns that delay recovery and to re-educate the body for more optimal functioning. Neubie aims to induce a re-wiring of brain connections — a feature called neuroplasticity — to give patients a greater range of motion, more strength, and better function.
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