November 8, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes Switching to an Oral MS Medication Is a Hard Pill to Swallow In one of my favorite scenes of the 1970s movie “The Goodbye Girl,” Paula McFadden (played by Marsha Mason) begs Elliot Garfield (played by Richard Dreyfuss) to quit playing the guitar late at night when he canāt sleep. āHave you ever tried pills?ā she asks, to which he…
September 9, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Need Help Choosing the Right Medication to Treat Your MS? It’s not easy choosing a multiple sclerosis (MS) medication. There are shots and pills and intravenous infusions. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society lists more than 20 disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) on its website. Some, such as Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), and Tysabri (natalizumab), have proven to…
February 19, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias Are You Having Trouble Paying for Your MS Medications? If you’re having trouble paying for your MS medications, you’re not alone. I regularly see social media posts from people whose insurance has changed or whose insurance company has suddenly dropped a medication from its formulary (the list of meds it will pay for). Or, it has decided that you…
July 16, 2019 Columns by Ed Tobias Some Doctors Can See the Cost of Your MS Meds, but Will They Look? Does your doctor consider what you’ll have to pay when prescribing your medications? A few months ago, I wrote that some people are skipping doses of their meds because they can’t afford their out-of-pocket costs. In that column, one of the suggested solutions was to talk to your doctor…
March 12, 2019 Columns by Ed Tobias Are MS Patients Using Too Many Medications? 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…
February 19, 2019 Columns by Ed Tobias I’m Living With MS, I’m Not ‘Battling’ It A former colleague recently asked me, “How are you doing in your battle with MS?” It was a legitimate question, not one of those throwaway lines of mock concern that we often hear. We were discussing the death of a former colleague who had been diagnosed with MS in…
February 1, 2019 Columns by Ed Tobias Why Aren’t You Using an MS Medication? I see a lot of answers to the question about why people stop, or refuse to start, an MS medication. “Thinking of stopping the…meds. Sick of the shots and how they hurt to take them” “I stopped all of them….all multiple times. It…
June 1, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Patients Are Getting Caught in an Insurance Deductible Snag MS medications are expensive. Many people with MS are able to afford their high prices only because their insurance covers most of the cost, and what remains as their copay is often covered by many of the pharmaceutical companies that produce those meds. The companies offer patient assistance…