June 25, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias Was It Vertigo That Sent Me Tumbling the Other Day? In the four decades I’ve lived with MS, I’d never before experienced a serious case of vertigo. I’ve occasionally felt a little spacey. In fact, mild dizziness while traveling home from a business convention is one of the things…
June 21, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Myelin Repair, Early DMT Use, Online Physical Therapy, At-home Exercise Scientists Discover Enzyme Needed for Activating Myelin Repair Here’s encouraging news for those interested in remyelination — and who isn’t interested in repairing our frayed MS nerves? Yes, it’s only a mouse study, but maybe it’s the starting…
June 18, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias Do High Antibody Levels Mean I’m Protected Against COVID-19? Is 2,500 my magical COVID-19 number? At my annual MS checkup a week ago, my neurologist included a blood test for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Antibodies are proteins in the blood that protect the body from being attacked by viruses, bacteria,…
June 14, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Stem Cell Trial, Young PWMS and DMTs, Exoskeleton, Tests for Kids Stem Cell Transplant Trial Enrolls First Patient in Minnesota It looks as if we’re moving closer to the day when stem cell transplants become an approved MS treatment in the U.S., at least I hope so. A…
June 11, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias 45 Years and Counting, Even With MS Happy anniversary to us! My wife, Laura, and I are celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary this month. It’s hard to believe, especially because the divorce rate for someone with multiple sclerosis is higher than it is for a healthy…
June 7, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Nasal DMT, VR for Gait, Brain Stimulation, Amino Sugars Nasal Foralumab Led to Promising Immune Effects in Phase 1 Trial It sure would be nice to have a nasal spray to treat MS, but this research is still in its early stages. This…
June 4, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias Should Dr. Google Help Guide Your Treatment? Paging Dr. Google. OK, maybe I’m being overly dramatic, but The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Google and HCA Healthcare have struck a deal to share data and create healthcare algorithms. HCA plans to use the data system…
May 28, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias How Do You Define an MS Cure? “Why aren’t researchers doing more to find a cure for multiple sclerosis?” “Why isn’t more effort and money devoted to this?” I regularly read comments like these after I write a column about a new disease-modifying therapy (DMT) that’s…
May 24, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Zeposia, Music and Gait, Video Therapeutics, Treatment Perceptions NICE Again Says No to Adding Zeposia to Health System for England and Wales Reading this news, I’m again reminded of the major difference between the healthcare system in the U.S. and those in…
May 21, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias When an Unexpected Driving Test Causes a Pseudo-flare My tough day started when Brenda asked, “Why do you use that scooter?” Brenda was sitting behind a desk at the Charlotte County Tax Collector’s Office in Florida, where my wife, Laura, and I hoped that transferring our…
May 17, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Fatigue, Myelin, Gut Microbes, Bots Promoting Shots Fatigue Prevalence Remains High in MS Patients Is this a surprise to anyone who has lived with MS for any period of time? Over the many years since my diagnosis, fatigue has been my…
May 14, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias Efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Varies by DMT, Study Finds Are you being treated with a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) and wondering how it might affect the efficacy of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine? If so, a recent study may provide some clarity. The study, published in…
May 10, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Early MS, Fenebrutinib, Restless Legs, Safer MRIs Phase 4 Trial Will Test if Ocrevus Can Prevent MS Onset in RIS Patients Yes, you’re reading this right. This trial aims to see if Ocrevus can stop MS before it’s officially diagnosed —…
May 7, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias This New Tool Can Help You Choose Which DMT to Use Sometimes it seems as if people with MS are asked to flip a coin to make what’s arguably the most important decision about their treatment: which disease-modifying therapy (DMT) to use. More than 20 DMTs are approved in…
May 3, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: FDA and Tysabri, COVID-19 and CD20, Gilenya Infections, Therapeutic Lag FDA Rejects Under-the-skin Tysabri for Relapsing MS I expect this decision will be a disappointment for those who had hoped to be able to self-administer highly effective Tysabri as a shot rather than an…
April 30, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias What Do the Oscars and Our COVID-19 Response Have in Common? What could the Academy Awards and COVID-19 possibly have in common for people with disabilities? Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you. First, the Academy Awards. The documentary “Crip Camp,” about a summer camp for young adults with disabilities,…
April 26, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: COVID-19 and Flares, Hiding MS Status, Blood Proteins, Tysabri #AANAM – COVID-19 Often Leads to Flares in MS Patients, Survey Finds I’ve read more than a few social media posts from people with MS who are concerned that the COVID-19 vaccines will cause…
April 23, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias Let’s Treat Older MS Patients With More Respect As comic Rodney Dangerfield might have said, older people with MS “just don’t get no respect.” By older, I mean those of us who are 55 and up. By respect, I mean from researchers and some neurologists. So, as…
April 19, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Helper T-cells, PML, WNT9B Gene, New MS Subtypes Helper T-cells Drive Transition from RRMS to SPMS, Study Suggests The T-cells referred to in this study, known as CD4+ cells, are believed to play a significant part in central nervous system inflammation. The…
April 16, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias My MS Likes It Hot, and Florida’s Just the Place Many people with MS avoid Florida. I crave it. My wife and I finally returned here in early March, escaping dreary, rainy, and windy Maryland after we received our COVID-19 vaccines. Since we arrived, the weather has been wonderful,…
March 21, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister I’m a disabled veteran, but sometimes it’s hard to explain