November 9, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Age and DMTs, Tysabri or Gilenya, Sativex Trial, Ocrevus and Mayzent Phase 3 Trial of Sativex, Cannabis Extract Treatment for MS Spasticity, Opens in US This is a major step toward making a clinically tested, cannabis-based medication available in the U.S. I’ve always thought that medications containing a THC/CBD…
November 2, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Biotin, Opicinumab, Myelin, Tele-exercise MD1003 Fails to Prevent Disability Progression in Progressive MS Patients, Trial Shows This is discouraging news for people taking high-dose biotin, many who have been buying it over the counter. Not only do these researchers report that taking…
October 30, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias aHSCT Gets a Boost in US With NMSS Recommendations Is the United States a step closer to approving a form of stem cell transplantation as a treatment for multiple sclerosis? I believe it may be. That’s because the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) has slightly changed its view…
October 26, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Caregivers, VX-765 Majority of MS Patients in US Report Mistreatment by Caregivers in Survey This is a serious issue, but it’s not as pervasive as this headline makes it appear. The survey looked only at the…
October 23, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Diagnosing MS During a Pandemic: UK vs. US Editor’s note: Previously, this piece stated that Dr. Ide Smets theorized a transition to telemedicine as the standard of care could cause decreased life expectancy in the U.K. of up to 30 years. The piece has been corrected to…
October 19, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Mayzent in the UK, Aubagio and Other DMTs, Unemployment Mayzent Approved for Active SPMS Patients in England and Wales This is great news for people with MS in England and Wales. Mayzent (siponimod) is a needed weapon in the MS battle. It is…
October 16, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Disability Employment Awareness Isn’t Enough to Keep You Working My multiple sclerosis (MS) was diagnosed 40 years ago in August. I never kept my MS a secret, but I didn’t go around advertising it, either. I’ll bet, for the first 20 years or so, very…
October 12, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Comparing DMTs, Myelin Repair, Hypertension Gilenya and Tecfidera Similarly Effective at Treating RRMS, Real-world Study Says Gilenya and Tecfidera are both oral disease-modifying therapies. Both meds attempt to limit the inflammatory action of the immune system. Both now have…
October 9, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Could Too Many Tattoos Cause MS Trouble? Many people with multiple sclerosis (MS) get tattoos. Often it’s a way to deliver a statement about MS to the world, or perhaps it’s a personal message to the person sporting it. But a new report cautions that…
October 5, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Amalgam Fillings, COVID-19 and MS, Tecfidera Generic MS Patients Should Avoid ‘Silver’ Tooth Fillings Due to Mercury, FDA Advises Concerns about the possible danger of amalgam dental fillings have been floated for years. Several European countries already have banned their use…
October 2, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Is the FDA Changing Course on Amalgam Dental Fillings and MS? For years, some people have warned of a possible connection between multiple sclerosis (MS) and the amalgam fillings many of us have in our teeth. The concern has been that these fillings contain mercury, which can be toxic,…
September 28, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Global MS Numbers, Pregnancy and MS, ANK-700 MS Prevalence at Over 2.8 Million Worldwide, Update to Atlas Reports With almost 3 million of us around the world, we’re not really rare, but we’re rare enough that our MS is still a…
September 25, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Moving Madness Means MS Stress We’re moving and I’m stressed. That’s redundant, I know, as moving is simply stress on wheels — which isn’t good for someone with MS. Studies have shown a link between stressful life events and MS exacerbations, known as…
September 21, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Economic Impact Survey, Fatigue, DMTs National MS Society Launches Survey to Assess Economic Impact of MS We know that managing MS is expensive. It can cost us money out of our pockets and also limit our ability to earn…
September 18, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Digs Deep Into the Wallet, Report Shows Multiple sclerosis (MS) is expensive. Even with good insurance, those of us living in a country without universal healthcare have significant out-of-pocket costs for our treatments and medications. Some of these costs may not be covered at all. MS…
September 14, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: COVID-19 Survey, MSVirtual2020, Zeposia, B-cells COVID-19 Pandemic Had Minimal Emotional Impact in Progressive MS Patients, Survey Finds I beg to differ. I have secondary progressive MS, and COVID-19 has bummed me out. I haven’t been in an exercise room…
September 11, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Why a Flu Shot Is More Important Than Ever This Year Labor Day has come and gone here in the U.S. Now, flu season has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. This isn’t the novel coronavirus we’ve been fighting all year. It’s the regular seasonal flu virus that’s knocking on…
September 4, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Amazon’s Halo Judges Your Stress by Listening to Your Voice You’re stressed, and Halo may know it. Halo is a new Amazon service the company says can judge how stressed you are, in part by the tone of your voice. The service uses a wristband that connects to a…
August 31, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Paramagnetic Lesions, Mavenclad, Relapses in Children, Ocrevus and Rituximab Paramagnetic Rim Lesions Showing Promise as Diagnostic Marker of MS About a year ago, researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health reported that the presence of chronic active lesions in the brain may…
August 28, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Could a Justice Department Lawsuit Threaten Copay Assistance Programs? The U.S. Justice Department has the manufacturer of Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) in its crosshairs, and the outcome could have a much greater reach. It appears the case could directly affect the copay help many…
April 29, 2024 Columns by Leigh Anne Nelson My biggest worry post-diagnosis was whether MS could be inherited
April 25, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Finding safety while living with the constant threat of MS progression