I am hyperaware of the fragility of life. More specifically, the fragility of mine. Secondary progressive multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. My immune system eats away at the myelin sheath surrounding my nerves. My disease-modifying therapy is an immunosuppressant. This further weakens my immunity. I have known…

After I wrote my last column about essential oils to combat the common cold, I knew I was doomed to catch something. And that’s what happened … kinda. A few days ago, I felt what my family calls “a throat thing” coming on, but thankfully, my friend Sandy hooked…

I remember the feeling of having a terrible cold or flu before I had multiple sclerosis (MS). The stuffy nose that made breathing nearly impossible. That elusive tickle in the back of my throat combined with a hacking cough. Cold and flu season is a miserable time, and I…

I had the flu for several days, and it was disastrous. So, I did not write last week. I hope you missed the column as much as I missed writing it and hearing from you. Several of my friends have the flu as well. This is an awful…

Get plenty of rest. Drink lots of warm fluids. Use a humidifier. Gargle and flush your sinuses with warm salt water. Blow your nose early and often. Take over-the-counter medications. Eat some chicken soup. No doubt, you know what I’m talking about when you read this list of…

I’m fighting a cold. I’m coughing and I’m congested. I’m hoping it’s not the flu. This is not a year to get the flu. The type of flu circulating in most of North America right now is the H3N2 variety. And, in the words of Helen Branswell…

It’s that time of year again. The time of year where I keep seeing posts on MS social media posts asking, “should I get a flu shot?” In my honest opinion, yes, definitely! There are certainly different opinions about this, but I think that my opinion is the…

University of California at San Francisco Recruiting MS Patients for Gut Bacteria Study Last year, a Harvard study reported significant differences between bacteria that MS patients have in their bellies and that found in those who don’t have MS. If that bacteria is treated, those MS-related changes might…

Coming down with the flu can provoke relapses in multiple sclerosis patients by activating glial cells that surround and protect nerve cells. In a study in mice, scientists found that activated glial cells increase the levels of a chemical messenger in the brain that, in turn, triggers an immune reaction and, potentially, autoimmune attacks. The flu is caused by the human influenza virus and, despite being unpleasant, usually resolves itself within days. However, for people with MS and other neurological conditions, the flu can lead to disease relapse. Researchers at the University of Illinois investigated what happens in the brain of MS patients during upper-respiratory viral infections, such as the flu. "We know that when MS patients get upper respiratory infections, they're at risk for relapse, but how that happens is not completely understood," Andrew Steelman, an assistant professor at the university and the study's senior author, said in a press release. "A huge question is what causes relapse, and why immune cells all of a sudden want to go to the brain. Why don't they go to the toe?" The team used a mouse model characterized by autoimmune responses within the brain and spinal cord — the type of deregulated immune responses seen in MS patients. Researchers infected the animals with a version of human influenza virus adapted to mice, and looked at changes that occurred in the animal’s central nervous system. While the virus was never detected in the animals' brains, upon infection some of the mice developed MS-like symptoms. "If you look at a population of MS patients that have symptoms of upper respiratory disease, between 27 and 42 percent will relapse within the first week or two," Steelman said. "That's actually the same incidence and timeframe we saw in our infected mice, although we thought it would be much higher given that most of the immune cells in this mouse strain are capable of attacking the brain." The team then investigated how a peripheral influenza infection could contribute to disease onset. They infected a wild-type (normal) strain of mice with the flu virus and looked at alterations in the brain and spinal cord. Scientists found that infection increased the activation of glial cells in the mice's brains. Moreover, it induced infiltration of several immune cells — T-cells, monocytes and neutrophils — into the brain within eight hours of infection. Overall, these findings suggest that the chemokine CXCL5 plays a key role in mediating an autoimmune attack in MS, and might be explored for therapeutic potential.