living with MS

Overachieving is my jam. Go big or go home. I strive to be the best at whatever it is I do. Currently, I am achieving greatness in my ability to fall. Three falls in three weeks is a new record. The first one happened in the kitchen. Upon feeling myself…

Annually, I’m frustrated by the changing of our clocks due to the end of daylight saving time. It seems so straightforward: Time either goes backward or forward by an hour. That’s it. It doesn’t seem so challenging to comprehend. Or does it?…

The Israeli Innovation Authority has awarded Owlytics Healthcare a $1.3-million grant to support the company’s development of wearable artificial intelligence (AI) technology that has the potential to improve multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies and better evaluate treatment efficacy in clinical studies. The device would be able to continuously…

Phase 3 Trial of Sativex, Cannabis Extract Treatment for MS Spasticity, Opens in US This is a major step toward making a clinically tested, cannabis-based medication available in the U.S. I’ve always thought that medications containing a THC/CBD combination are useful to lessen some MS symptoms, but the lack…

Well, folks, we made it to the end of a very long political season and an even longer week. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel a bit relieved. In fact, I have tension and stress trapped in every muscle and joint of my body. And that’s not…

I have two regular carers at the moment. The first to arrive greets me with her usual efficacious, “Good morning, John!” She’s loud enough to wake the whole street. Luckily, my neighbors should be up anyway, as my carers are booked for 11 a.m. each weekday. I have mentioned in…

A $25,000 contest is inviting entrepreneurs who have multiple sclerosis (MS), or take care of someone with MS, to pitch their non-therapeutic solutions for people with the neurodegenerative disorder. The virtual Innovation Challenge, which takes place in March 2021, is part of a collaboration between patient-powered platform Lyfebulb…

Did you know that there are various types of fatigue, and each makes us feel slightly different than the others? A long while ago, I was at an MS seminar listening to a nurse talk about fatigue. She…

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) are invited to submit their artwork to the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America‘s (MSAA) annual Art Showcase. The online event aims to share the work of artists with MS and their life stories. Applications are opened till Dec. 14 and are restricted to…

Adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological disorders are being recruited to take part in a 12-week clinical trial that aims to assess the health benefits of home-based tele-exercise — performed while seated — led by the Burke Neurological Institute, in New York, according to an…

It doesn’t take much for us to feel uncertain. It could be the result of a new symptom or doing something you’ve never before done, such as attending a telehealth appointment. Maybe the election causes you uncertainty. Perhaps current events or new…

Majority of MS Patients in US Report Mistreatment by Caregivers in Survey This is a serious issue, but it’s not as pervasive as this headline makes it appear. The survey looked only at the treatment of people with advanced MS, the 30% of people with MS who need help…

Editor’s note: Previously, this piece stated that Dr. Ide Smets theorized a transition to telemedicine as the standard of care could cause decreased life expectancy in the U.K. of up to 30 years. The piece has been corrected to state that such a change could result in a decreased life…

The cog fog (cognitive fog) is thick and heavy. I cannot seem to extract words from the alphabet soup that fills my head. This is torturous for a self-described word nerd. And as my MS progresses, so does the fog. Slowed cognition has become one of the most…

The presence of a particular gut bacterium widely used in probiotics, called Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri), was sufficient to increase disease severity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), but only in genetically susceptible animals, a recent study shows. These findings highlight the complex interactions between…

Finding an understanding community makes such a difference to people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).  Our partners, families, children, and friends do their best to listen and empathize, but at the end of the day, they can only empathize so much. Unless they have an illness…

In a nationwide survey of caregiver abuse and neglect among Americans with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), more than half of respondents reported some form of mistreatment, with psychological and financial abuse being the most common. Having a caregiver with a mental illness was the greatest risk factor for mistreatment, the survey…

Despite the melatonin and Kava tea, the hot baths and weighted blanket, I’m not sleeping very well these days. I haven’t been for months actually. In addition to the “low-burn” stresses that come with adulthood and the utterly average cares of the workaday world, I have felt a…

OK, you’re not all science fiction nuts, so I’ll explain: The Borg are a cybernetic race and the lead baddies in the “Star Trek” universe — or, the way the latest Netflix iteration is going, the multiverse. Besides trying to take over all life forms, they also have the sneaky…

My multiple sclerosis (MS) was diagnosed 40 years ago in August. I never kept my MS a secret, but I didn’t go around advertising it, either. I’ll bet, for the first 20 years or so, very few people at work knew I lived with the disease. When my MS stuck,…

Helius Medical Technologies partnered with Breakthrough Health on a project focused on understanding how people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the U.S. evaluate the therapies at their disposal in terms of how well they help their ability to walk. The collaboration will take advantage of an MS companion application, called…

When I was first diagnosed with MS, I didn’t have a choice about what disease-modifying therapy (DMT) I could take. My neurologist held up his hand and pointed one by one to each finger, with each…

Factors related to disease and personality, as well as specific health-related behaviors, are among the main determinants that can put people with multiple sclerosis (MS) at risk of unemployment, a study suggests. In particular, MS disease course, fatigue, self-efficacy (belief in one’s own abilities to cope, in this…

It was 3 p.m. last Thursday. Things should have been good. I had filed the copy for my previous column the day before. Ultimately, some of my outrageous musings had gone, and some I considered even worse had stayed. It’s an age-old journalism, radio, and TV writer’s trick: If…

Many people with multiple sclerosis (MS) get tattoos. Often it’s a way to deliver a statement about MS to the world, or perhaps it’s a personal message to the person sporting it. But a new report cautions that too much ink might create a health issue for some folks.

In a nationwide survey of cannabis-based therapy use among Americans with multiple sclerosis (MS), almost half of respondents endorsed such products, primarily for nerve-based pain and sleep disturbances, and the perceived benefits for sleep and pain were highly correlated.  The reported…

A multiple sclerosis diagnosis is hard to process. Our body that we once knew so well suddenly feels untrustworthy. The truth is that the malfunctioning of our body is a traumatic event. We never expected it to do these things.  We are…

Hypertension is considerably more common among people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the United States than among those without the disease, a large data study reported. High blood pressure was found to be 42% more common among MS patients than non-patients adjusted for sex and age, with male…

Multiple sclerosis has taught me many lessons over the last 16 years, and one of the most lasting ones has been about finding balance. I can’t run like a madwoman from one task to the next and not expect consequences. There has to be a balance between work and rest.

Eurgh! Poo is what I fear most at the moment. I thought turning this column into a diary was cool. Following the greats, such as John Diamond, who chronicled his cancer to the end, takes me into some strange quarters. In this case, strained ones! Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects egestion,…