Living with MS

I am a strategist. I think things through. This attribute is borne of necessity. A birthday dinner is not complete without my exit plan. As I wait to be served, I realize the booth is a bit low. I smile, blow out my candle, then scope out things…

You know that the use of marijuana as a medicine and its derivative cannabidiol (CBD) is close to being widely accepted as a useful natural product when articles about its pain-relieving properties appear in Consumer Reports. Yes, I’m referring to the nonprofit magazine that provides unbiased ratings on products…

Caring for a loved one with multiple sclerosis (MS) can be exhausting, resulting in crankiness, sleepless nights, and excessive sadness, but many resources are available to help deal with the daily challenges of caregiving, said social worker, therapist, and wellness educator Lara Krawchuk. “Care partner fatigue is a normal and…

In recognition of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month, AscellaHealth, a national pharmacy benefit management company, is calling attention to its clinical and educational program designed to assist individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). The program plan is intended to offer specialty pharmacy strategies to help manage costly and complex…

Phase 3 Trial of ADS-5102 Recruiting Participants of All MS Types This medication is similar to Ampyra (dalfampridine) because its goal is to improve walking in those with MS. It sure would be nice if we had another medication approved that could do that. Though this trial began recruiting…

When I first learned that I had multiple sclerosis in late January 2004, the thing I worried about most was losing my mind. No, I’m not referring to stressing out, going bananas, cracking up, going off the deep end, or coming unglued — though all of those were distinct…

You think getting a chronic illness is as bad as it’s going to get, but then you quickly realize that you’ve been catapulted into a netherworld. There’s no stepping through the back of the wardrobe into Narnia — I’m pretty sure C. S. Lewis didn’t envisage disabled access furniture!…

If you’re a member of the baby boomer generation, or if you just like the music of the 1960s and ’70s, you probably know Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover“: “‘The problem is all inside your head,’ she said to me. ‘The answer is easy…

People who take care of their own needs while caring for a loved one with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to be successful, and enjoy a mutually rewarding relationship. And the best way to ensure that partners’ needs are met is for them to communicate openly and often.

  Editor’s note: “Need to Know” is a series inspired by common forum questions and comments from readers. Have a comment or question about MS? Visit our forum. This week’s question is inspired by the forum topic “What is Trigeminal Neuralgia?” from May 2, 2018. What causes…

Living with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis is a lesson in discovery. I strive to manage life with MS one day at a time. My disease touches all aspects of my life. One of the elements it affects is intimacy: closeness, affinity, warmth, trust, and mutual affection. Intimacy is friendliness,…

When you’ve lived with multiple sclerosis (MS) for as long as I have, you sometimes forget or block out negative experiences you’ve had over the years. As The Rolling Stones put it, “Time is on my side.” One particular memory seems distant, but…

Treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) with beta-interferon therapies is associated with extended patient survival, particularly if taking such treatments for more than three years, according to a real-world study in Canada and France. The study, “Multiple sclerosis: effect of beta interferon treatment on survival,” was…

About 15 disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are available to treat MS these days. So, choosing which to use can be daunting. I’ve been treated with four DMTs since I was first prescribed Avonex (interferon beta-1a) back in 1996. Each time I’ve switched treatments, my neurologist has suggested a number of…

Sex, age, disability level, and current disease-modifying therapy use are linked to how multiple sclerosis (MS) patients weigh the potential benefits and safety risks of treatments, new research from two teams funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society shows. These studies shed light on how…

Sex and intimacy are good for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), just as they are for anyone without the disease. And while fear of talking with a partner about possible sexual challenges created by MS is perfectly normal, there is help available to deal with potential problems. That’s according…

I have always found group settings to be challenging because of my shy and quiet personality. While I do fine talking to people one-on-one, gatherings of three or more can make me squirm. Years ago, the company I worked for held monthly bonding sessions for…

A post in one of the MS social media groups I follow recently asked whether kids can have MS. The writer was worried about her 3-year-old. One commenter replied that her son was diagnosed when he was 9. But, she wrote, his symptoms actually began to appear when he…

Editor’s note: “Need to Know” is a series inspired by common forum questions and comments from readers. Have a comment or question about MS? Visit our forum. This week’s question is inspired by the forum topic “Chair yoga” from April 14, 2018.

Spurred on by a recent multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence study, which revealed that the number of MS patients in the U.S. is double (nearly one million) what had been previously thought, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is marking MS Awareness Week by sharing stories of those affected…

Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month has arrived, lasting throughout the month of March. All things orange and popular hashtags flood social media sites. Awareness months like this have great value, though some may disagree. Awareness months become vessels to engage and encourage individuals and communities to get involved.

Have you ever heard of the word “polypharmacy”? I saw the word for the first time today. It’s generally defined as taking many medications together. There’s been debate over how many is “many,” but a number generally used is five or more. That describes me. I take…

After months of preparation with storytelling experts, three ordinary Americans with multiple sclerosis (MS) took the stage in New York late last year to share their MS journeys. The three joined TV personality Montel Williams at an event inaugurating My MS: Second Act, a joint effort co-sponsored by…

Playing Billy Beane in “Moneyball,” Brad Pitt utters the now famous line, “Adapt or die.” (Warning: The scene linked here has a few naughty words in it.) He’s referencing the use of statistics to create a better baseball team, but I think the saying is true to most…

In the earlier days of my MS, I could still walk a bit. It was not enough to risk the maze of an airport, so I traveled sensibly in a wheelchair and preregistered as a disabled passenger. My then-teenage son reduced the boredom by placing me facing into suitable…

A recent article in The New York Times hit the nail on the head when it comes to describing the world we live in with MS. But the article isn’t about MS. The Times‘ Tessa Miller writes about Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disorder. Like MS, Crohn’s…

If a cat has nine lives then I have at least twice as many. One day shy of my 50th birthday, my mind runs a vivid montage of years past. I close my eyes and I am there. I feel a heavy melancholy as the movie rolls. I see…

MSCopilot, a software device designed for the self-assessment of multiple sclerosis (MS), distinguishes between patients and healthy controls, and potentially could be used in clinical practice for the monitoring of MS disability progression and patients’ response to treatment. Matthieu Lamy, from Ad Scientiam, the…

It is a question that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, loved ones, and the larger community have asked for some time: “Will there be a cure for multiple sclerosis?” MS News Today had the opportunity to ask that question of leaders at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in…

  Several summers ago I had the misfortune of experiencing the simultaneous agony of kidney stones and gallstones. The level of pain was greater than I’d had with childbirth. It brought me to my knees and took two hospitals, one misdiagnosis, and two surgeries to get…