living with MS

A lot of factors go into our decisions when we select the drug we’re going to use to fight our multiple sclerosis. How well will it work? What are the possible side effects and how serious could they be? How will using the drug (taking a pill, giving myself a…

Dolly Stokes, a fitness trainer and multiple sclerosis (MS) patient, and her husband, Jeff Stokes, have launched the website for their fitness and wellness company, BFitLifestyles, providing information on how to live an active and healthy life. The Stokes, owners of three fitness-related companies in Fairhope, Alabama – DollyBFitness, BFitLifestyles, and Stokes…

Thoughts of love were brought to the forefront of many people’s minds on Valentine’s Day, which is widely celebrated by couples both young and not so young. They usually buy cards and enjoy romantic dinners. In our…

When it comes to multiple sclerosis, mastering your own understanding of the disease means you need to mind your Ps, 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 a…

When you live with multiple sclerosis, stress is unavoidable. Your first experience with the stress of MS is when you’re diagnosed. As you move forward, you begin experiencing not only “normal” stress, but also the stress of living with a chronic illness.   Stress…

What do pot brownies, shoe shopping and bladder control have in common? These are just a few of the varied MS self-help support group discussion topics in which I have enjoyed participating. I have been an attendee and group leader of two National MS Society self-help groups. I also…

There is some good news about stem cell therapy. A just-published study concludes that one form of human stem cell therapy is more effective at treating multiple sclerosis than the best of the MS medications being used currently. The not-so-good news is that approval of this…

For many years I have been fighting the battle of the bulge while trying to decipher and combat many food intolerances. Every year I seem to come up short in the battle with losing weight, but I continue to try to shed the pounds. There are many challenges…

Here’s my Pick of the Week’s News as published in Multiple Sclerosis News Today. People with Chronic Diseases Support Obamacare More Than General Public, Survey Finds As everyone must know, throughout the world, politics in the U.S. has become extremely volatile and one of the focuses is…

A new online resource, LiveWiseMS.org, aims to raise awareness about multiple sclerosis (MS) and provide patients and caregivers information about the disease’s symptoms and conditions. The platform, developed by the International Organization of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses (IOMSN), hopes to promote healthy living and improve quality of life for MS patients and their families.

Browsing through some multiple sclerosis Facebook groups the other day I was reminded of the line from the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” These posts jumped out at me: So when my neuro says he wants me to…

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other chronic diseases value the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) more than the general public, concludes a poll conducted by PatientsLikeMe. These patients are also less inclined to repeal Obamacare, and they are more likely to believe Obamacare needs few changes to…

Regular massage therapy given people with multiple sclerosis (MS) significantly reduced their pain and fatigue, and helped to ease spasticity, a small pilot study reports. The results further support previous findings as to the benefits of massage in treating MS symptoms and improving patients’ quality of life. The study, “Impact of Massage Therapy on Fatigue,…

Stress is like a light that turns on when you need it. But when you can’t turn it off, you run the risk of burnout, which can impact your health, according to the U.S. National MS Society. I often have said that I…

MS Alphabet When it comes to multiple sclerosis, mastering your own understanding of the disease means you need to mind your P’s and Q’s, dot your i’s, cross your t’s, and recite your ABCs. There is so much to know about this complex disease, but the more you know as…

Americans are feeling more anxious than ever. It’s not politics as usual, but politics as unusual. People who never were politically active find themselves raising their voices to make a difference. In the MS community, raising our voices is not something new.

The three words are powerful. My mother speaks them into my spirit frequently. She tells me to “Just hold on.” My mother is a woman who has withstood many tragedies. Both my parents have. They’ve lost their children, cared for me as an ill child and they continue to…

Back in September I told you about Cheryl Hile. Cheryl is a young woman with MS whose goal is to become the first person with MS to run in seven marathons on seven continents. In September she had just completed her first marathon, in Cape Town,…

Ninety-five percent of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients believe medical marijuana should be a treatment option, according to a GeneFo online survey. The survey also showed that almost 73 percent had tried it, even though about half said they hadn’t received information from a doctor about its benefits and risks. A National…

Perhaps the most famous MS advocate today isn’t a patient, but the daughter of one. Author J.K. Rowling lost her mother to multiple sclerosis in 1990, something she describes as “an enormous shock.” In order to help fight and defeat this disease, she donated £10m to found…

You may not have heard this song, but I bet its lyrics will strike a chord. I cannot feel my body. I cannot feel my face. My legs are pins and needles and my mind is a disgrace. I see in double…

Considerable differences exist in how multiple sclerosis patients, healthcare providers and insurance companies assess the value of current MS treatments, according to a literature review study by the data analysis firm Real Endpoints. For the study, a team of clinicians and researchers looked at more than 300 research articles, covering topics like…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who received transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) while playing brain-training video games improved their learning and understanding skills to a greater extent than those who only brain-trained. Researchers at NYU Langone’s Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center underscored that while more research is needed to explore the procedure’s…

January 2017 has proven to be a bit of a cluster, if you know what I mean. Holiday recovery, out-of-town trips for work, budget cuts, extreme weather and, of course, the social and political “chaos climate” all conspired to make me itchy, twitchy and tense! This past Thursday, as…

There are many people with MS who miss out on easy access to care from multiple sclerosis specialists, and they often have few places to turn for trusted information, or to get their questions answered. There is a place where we can get both for free – the …

Recent weeks have been filled with enough political drama to last a lifetime. Wherever I go virtually (and now, even in “real life”), ideological division has been amplified to the extreme. Except … when I go to the multiple sclerosis online forum I co-administrate. Meet the people in my neighborhood The…

MS is an onerous disease. There are times when I feel as if I am in the midst of a tsunami. Everything comes crashing in and all I want is a safe haven, a level of calm. The tsunami consists of depression, physical symptoms and the destruction of peace.

Uh oh! My cat, T.J., is under my feet trying to nibble my ankles as I stumble toward the bathroom in the middle of the night. I know what’s about to happen. As I try not to step on T.J.’S tail, it’s already started. I’m going down. It…

The common cold is upon me as I sit here laboring to breathe, with water-soaked eyes and a rumbling cough. I am under attack, an enemy has infiltrated my multiple sclerosis-weakened immune system. The antagonists have found a warm home and they are fighting to stay. It is…

Here is my Pick of the Week’s News, as published by Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Sense of Smell Impaired in Half of Multiple Sclerosis Patients in Study For very many years I have known that my sense of smell has not been as good as that considered normal…