July 15, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias How to Avoid Trouble While Traveling Internationally With MS Medications The case of Women’s National Basketball Association star Brittney Griner is an important reminder for all of us who travel internationally with our medications: What you might be able to do in your home country, might not be the case in another. And the penalty could be severe. Griner was…
July 6, 2022 Columns by Beth Ullah While Living With MS, Good Planning Is Key to Avoiding Chaos āWithout leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.ā ā Gloria Steinem For as long as I can remember, my father has always had a saying: “Perfect planning prevents piss-poor performance.” Much to my husband’s frustration, though, I’m still…
June 1, 2021 Columns by Jessie Ace Doctors Want Me to Switch Meds, But for Now, I’m Changing My Diet Doctors recently told me that the medication Iāve been taking for the last seven years for MS hasnāt been working. This is news that no one wants to hear.Ā When I first started Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate), an oral tablet, I was…
May 21, 2021 Columns by John Connor Introducing My ‘MS Popeye-Spinach Hypothesis’ For any younger readers, and by that I’m guessing 45 and under, may I present the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man. He got himself out of scrapes by downing a can of spinach, which supercharged his muscles. There was none of that nonsense of de-stalking raw young leaves…
January 15, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Sexual Dysfunction Common in Men with MS, Review Finds Sexual dysfunction affects more than 60% of adult men with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a review study. The data add to previous findings showing that more than two-thirds of women with MS also experience these problems, highlighting the importance of detecting and managing sexual dysfunction in…
February 1, 2019 News by Jonathan Grinstein Medication Use in RRMS Patients Highlights Importance of Better Treatment Management, Study Says Patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, particularly those with multiple conditions who are more severely disabled, are more likely to be using several medications at the same time, a study shows. These findings highlight the need for physicians to be aware of what medications their patients are taking to avoid…
November 6, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Medications in Mexico: Insurer Encourages Patients to Go South MS medications are expensive in the United States. We all know that. We also know that some of those expensive meds are a lot less expensive in places like Canada and Mexico. Now comes a novel idea from the nonprofit health insurance provider PEHP, which covers state workers and…
November 17, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias Airport Tips for Holiday Flyers Thanksgiving is just a few days away, so I thought it would be a good time to repeat a few of my airline travel tips and add a few new ones. Get the wait-time app Needless to say, you need to get to the airport early on busy travel…
September 29, 2016 News by Patricia Silva, PhD National MS Society Calls on Leaders to Lower Prices and Improve Access to MS Medications The National Multiple Sclerosis SocietyĀ has launched an initiative, calledĀ Make MS Medications Accessible, calling for change inĀ the pricing of multiple sclerosis (MS) medications in the U.S., which the group said need to be more affordable, and ways of acquiring them more simple and transparent. The initiative asksĀ leaders ofĀ all…
April 23, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD NYU Langone Researchers Report What Happens When Multiple Sclerosis Patients Abandon Treatment A team led by researchers at the New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center recently assessed what happens when clinically stable patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) stop taking their medication and found that almost 40% of them experience to some extent a return in disease activity and related symptoms. The…