May 7, 2021 Columns by John Connor Slipping Over the Event Horizon Into SPMS Isn’t it just like me to start my column with a physics analogy that is already confusing? Please stick with me, as all will be revealed. My point is that if a black hole is big enough, you…
April 30, 2021 Columns by John Connor You’ve Got to Hide Your MS Away In honor of MS Awareness Week, observed in the U.K. April 19–25, the MS Society released results of a survey about the barriers that keep multiple sclerosis patients from sharing their health status. Multiple Sclerosis News Today‘s Mary Chapman…
April 23, 2021 Columns by John Connor My Own ‘Left Hand of Darkness’ I was listening to a BBC podcast recently titled “The Sinister Hand,” about the history of left-handers. It seems that in medieval times, left-handedness was associated with sorcery. (What wasn’t?) It was only relatively recently that left-handed children…
April 16, 2021 Columns by John Connor An Upbeat MS Column for You Lucky People The trouble with a degenerative disease is that things only get worse. In the long-gone days of my youth, I somehow wrangled myself into being an arts critic. Wizened journalists imparted the lore that a bad show was much…
April 9, 2021 Columns by John Connor Can You Care Too Much? Er, Maybe! One of the conditions of being released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago was that I had carers come to my home four times a day for six weeks. I realized it was for the best…
April 2, 2021 Columns by John Connor To Have a Persistent UTI or Not? That Is the Question If you read last week’s column, you’ll know I’ve just been through hell — which is a pretty big statement for an atheist. Of course, if there is a hell, I’ll be going straight down. To save you…
March 26, 2021 Columns by John Connor The MS Astronaut Returns After a 10-day Hospital Stay So, where off Earth have I been? Nothing as adventurous as a space flight, I’m afraid, but a more prosaic litany of mishaps. First, I did crash, but that was from a vicious steroid withdrawal. My body went…
February 26, 2021 Columns by John Connor After a Full Dose of Steroids, I’m Still a Little Old Man at 63 “Let’s go for a walk,” my wife, Jane, chirpily suggested. This was a bit of a nightmare. I had to put on trousers. I perhaps cheekily get away with only wearing an apron all day. It makes going to…
February 19, 2021 Columns by John Connor Here’s What Our Alternative Valentine’s Day Is Like With MS Ah, timing. It was early Saturday afternoon on Feb. 13, and my wife, Jane, had just flushed the toilet for me. The doorbell rang — my flowers had arrived. An early romantic gesture. On the morning of Valentine’s Day,…
February 12, 2021 Columns by John Connor Britain Leads the World in Two Types of Jabbing I was 6 years old when British boxer Henry Cooper knocked Cassius Clay on his bottom. (It was that long ago, folks — 1963. This was before Clay’s religious conversion and consequent name change to Muhammad Ali.) Unfortunately,…
February 5, 2021 Columns by John Connor Feeling on Top of Things Meant I Nearly Ended Up on My Bottom Would I jinx it? In last week’s column “How I’m Staying on Top of MS’ Many ‘Gifts,'” I wrote about being on top of all my MS-induced ancillary symptoms. Wendy, one of my two readers, pointed out that…
January 29, 2021 Columns by John Connor How I’m Staying on Top of MS’ Many ‘Gifts’ When I was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009, my first question to my neurologist was, “Will I end up in a wheelchair?” She patted this question back with the generic, “You may, but no one knows the…
January 22, 2021 Columns by John Connor A Nod to the Long-running Comedy Show ‘No Sex Please, We’re British’ “No Sex Please, We’re British” was a British farce that opened in London’s West End in 1971 and ran until 1987. It was panned by critics, but having “Sex” in the title sure was a winner, helping it to…
January 15, 2021 Columns by John Connor My ‘Great Escape’ During a Long Pandemic Unfortunately, mine didn’t involve a cool motorbike — it was the wrong kind, as somehow Steve McQueen had managed to steal a British one — and an impossible jump at barbed wire to get into Switzerland! I’ll now…
January 8, 2021 Columns by John Connor Sorry, This Is Not About New Year’s Resolutions. Get Over It! Now I know what it is like to write like Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson. Not because I have their talent (if only), but due to the inescapable fact that I’m so high that the children’s Christmas kites…
December 18, 2020 Columns by John Connor Santa Claus Is Still Comin’ to Town Santa refuses to use email! At least letter-sending is a thousand years older than he is! (Via Shutterstock) Well, 2020 was a weird year for everybody. It was even weird for magical creatures, as these days, an awful…
December 11, 2020 Columns by John Connor ‘Well, This Could Be the Last Time, I Don’t Know!’ Don’t be so overdramatic, my wife always tells me. But as I’ve spent 30 years of my life as a pseudo-luvvie, I’ve earned the right to have a good and proper flounce if I want one. It was a…
December 4, 2020 Columns by John Connor The Thankful Rest of Thanksgiving I’m surprised I get anything done! Luckily, the parent company of Multiple Sclerosis News Today is in the U.S., so I didn’t have to write this column last week, due to Thanksgiving celebrations — even though I’m British. I…
November 20, 2020 Columns by John Connor To Be Forewarned Is to Be Forearmed My travails with MS invariably deal with what it does to me. This week, dear reader, it’s what I did to my jolly old self! I’ve got a daily light exercise routine designed for me by an occupational…
November 13, 2020 Columns by John Connor Of Mice and Men (and MS Research) The other day, I was watching an arts documentary instead of another repeat of a movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was about John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” of which I’m a fan. The headline for a…
April 22, 2024 Columns by Desiree Lama Learning to manage cognitive impairment with multiple sclerosis
April 18, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Learning how to write a ‘SOAP’ note feels different after an MS diagnosis
April 15, 2024 Columns by Leigh Anne Nelson What does ‘delicate balance’ mean in my life with multiple sclerosis?