living with MS

Carol Hardaway was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1990. After years of enduring relapses that brought episodes of complete blindness, numbness, tingling, debilitating fatigue, and short-term memory loss, the longtime resident of Texas — a state which offers Medicaid only to specific categories like low-income families, pregnant women, and…

What is benign MS? Does it even exist? Certainly it is not one of the types of the disease often listed as making up the multiple sclerosis family. It is a term that is surrounded by controversy,…

Diligent research and planning have left me confident in my ability to enjoy upcoming travels, while managing  MS and health concerns. Decisions have been made regarding luggage, medications, airport travel, car rental, and accommodations. I know whether to expect sun or snow, cobblestone or freeways, and have been practicing…

Swallowing difficulties and reduced cough are a major, yet commonly overlooked, issue in patients with multiple sclerosis and other brain conditions, according to Dr. Don Bolser, a University of Florida (UF) professor. Pharmaceutical companies haven’t recognized the importance of preventing bits of food and drink from getting into the lungs while…

Most of us have heard Rachel Platten’s Fight Song. It became an anthem for many people who struggle with illness and adversity. Fight Song has become one of my favorite odes. As a writer, I love to listen to the words of song lyrics. The music is…

Sooner or later we’re all going to die. We may not want to think about it, but it’s important that we do, especially those of us with a chronic disease such as multiple sclerosis. Though we don’t have a choice about dying, we can have a…

Half of the more than 7,500 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients responding to a recent survey revealed they’d consider physician-assisted suicide if they could no longer enjoy anything that made life worth living. In addition, 65 percent of respondents said they’d definitely or probably let a physician terminate their lives if they were…

So, I’m lying on the floor taking in the stippled ceiling we’ve never changed in the past 19 years. My son,  also 19, is now at university. That’s how I can be so exact on the age of my relationship with the hideously slathered ceiling. We moved in one month…

Relaxation and serenity are both attainable with the correct calming techniques. When overwhelmed by stress, the skills that have been gained and practiced become second nature to be summoned as needed. The combination of stress and multiple sclerosis can wreak havoc in the body. It can lead to a…

Here is my Pick of the Week’s News, as published by Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Ocrevus and the hope of ‘ending MS forever’: Interview with MS Society’s Tim Coetzee Ocrevus possibly being one of the most significant advances in MS treatment, especially for people with PPMS, the…

March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. That means we need to make the most of these four weeks to raise some money for research, and raise awareness about the disease and the 2.5 million people in the world currently living with it. What’s the best way…

Alexa, Amazon’s little voice-activated information box, has just received a multiple sclerosis infusion. As part of MS Awareness Month, fifty facts about MS have been loaded into Alexa’s memory. If a user says “Alexa, start MS Awareness” the system will respond with a random MS fact. (And a short…

The potential approval of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) this month supports the idea that, someday, a world free of multiple sclerosis (MS) is possible, according to Dr. Tim Coetzee, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s chief advocacy, services and research officer. While Coetzee — and the society he represents — realize the potential of…

In pursuit of an answer for breathing difficulty The MRI of my cervical and thoracic spine showed no active lesions last week. That was good news. Other…

A couple of weeks ago I had a curious encounter with the friend of a friend. I live in a small town. In some ways we’re all at least neighbors. Huddled in a small group at the local grocery store, we were chatting about our experiences with the…

The past few months have not been fun. We lost my father-in-law, put our beloved cat down, and moved from our home to a townhouse that is too small and poorly built. With a low inventory of rental properties in our area, and…

MS Views and News, a non-profit multiple sclerosis (MS) advocacy organization, will host its second annual Champions Tackling MS Gala on April 22, with money raised going to support live educational events, community resources, and services intended to help improve the quality of life for people with MS. The Saturday event at the…

This was an eventful week. I was not feeling well and ultimately ended up in the hospital for a couple of days. I had severe neck pain that radiated to my shoulder and arm. In addition, I woke up one morning with severe chest pains. I couldn’t determine whether…

Allison Wheeler is an unconventional heroine of a novel, but she found her way into my heart as I read A Million Ordinary Days by Judy Mollen Walters, a book being published today, March 14. Author Judy is also a Bionews Services columnist. She has Crohn’s disease and, writing…

One of my favorite movie lines appears in “Jerry Maguire.” Sports-agent Maguire is trying to convince one of his football-player clients to stay with him and the client keeps insisting: “Show me the money.” I got to thinking of that line the other evening, while reading a Facebook post…

When describing a multiple sclerosis exacerbation (also called a relapse, attack, or flare-up), comparing it to a home’s circuit panel is a good analogy to use. When a fuse blows on the circuit board the power is interrupted. During an MS attack, the myelin sheath that covers nerve axons…

Editor’s note: Our IBD columnist, Judy Walters, will have a new book out Tuesday in which the central character has multiple sclerosis. Here, she remembers how MS affected her own family during her childhood. I was only 10 when my grandmother died, but I remember so much about her. I remember…

The practice of collecting data about how we MS patients go about living our lives, and then using that data to improve our patient care, seems to be gathering steam. In the European Union a project called Real World Evidence Data, or RWE, is working outside of the…

We all know, because we have heard it so many times, that MS is not the same for everyone — that no two people have exactly the same combination of symptoms. That got me…

Australians living with multiple sclerosis (MS) don’t have adequate access to dental care, a new study reports. The study, “How do Australians living with MS experience oral health and accessing dental care? A focus group study,” appeared in the journal Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology. MS is an autoimmune…

When it comes to multiple sclerosis, mastering your own understanding of the disease means you need to mind your Ps and Qs, dot your Is, cross your Ts, and recite your ABCs. There is so much to know about this complex disease. But the more you know as…

If I were playing “Chronic Disease Bingo,” I’d be a winner! In addition to MS, I have three other chronic health conditions. While that may sound bad, it’s not unusual in the world of autoimmune disease, and I consider myself fairly healthy. This is thanks partly to attitude, but…

As Republicans in Congress prepare to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and 10 other nonpartisan patient groups are urging lawmakers in Washington to keep health insurance affordable, accessible, adequate and understandable for all Americans. The 11 organizations will evaluate all proposed changes to the…

A few weeks ago I wrote a column titled, “Why Can’t Some MS Docs Communicate With Their Patients?” It’s very unlikely that two doctors from the Cleveland Clinic — Mikkael A. Sekeres and Timothy D. Gilligan — read that column. But they, too, have written a piece about a…

Here’s my Pick of the Week’s News, as published in Multiple Sclerosis News Today. MS Organizations Join #MySupportHero Initiative to Help Patients Salute Those Who Care Oh, I can see me fitting in well here. To see what I mean, just take a look at two previous…