April 3, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Neurologists Turn to Telemedicine During Coronavirus Sheltering Dr. Aaron Boster assessed the gait of his multiple sclerosis patient, who walked forward and back. Earlier, he had checked the patient’s seventh cranial nerve by having him close his eyes tightly and smile. Then, Boster checked the ninth,…
March 27, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Online Coronavirus Screening May Not Be Ready for Prime Time A number of websites are currently offering online coronavirus screening. These aren’t a full-scale test. The online sites read symptoms that you enter and then use artificial intelligence to determine how likely it is that you’re positive for the…
March 23, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Coronavirus and DMTs, Gilenya and Pediatric MS, Ponesimod for RRMS, Cannabis for Spasticity I’m starting this week by linking to our Coronavirus COVID-19 Information section on the Multiple Sclerosis News Today Forums. My fellow moderator, John Connor, and I have been posting information there from our news writers and…
March 20, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Have You Tested Positive for Coronavirus with MS? What happens if you have MS and you’ve tested positive for COVID-19? How will the disease affect your disease-modifying therapies and your MS? Dr. Barry Singer, (@drbarrysinger), a neurologist who directs The MS Center for Innovations in…
March 16, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Coronavirus Updates, MD1003 Trial Fails to Meet Goals, Sativex and Spasticity Relief, NurOwn Trial Site Announced Second Phase 3 Trial of MedDay’s MD1003 for Progressive MS Fails to Meet Goals This is disappointing news about what scientists had hoped would be another oral disease-modifying therapy for multiple sclerosis. It’s doubly…
March 13, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Guidelines for DMT Use as COVID-19 Spreads People with multiple sclerosis have unique concerns about the new coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease that it causes. Many of us use disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that suppress our immune systems and give us an extra element to worry about…
March 9, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Coronavirus FAQs, Diet, Ozanimod Study, High-dose Vitamin D FAQs About Coronavirus and MS As the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease spreads around the world, people with multiple sclerosis are asking questions specifically related to our illness and our medications. These FAQs…
March 6, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias FDA Approval of Investigational DMT Ozanimod May Be Weeks Away By the end of this month, another disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for multiple sclerosis may be available in the U.S. Ozanimod is an investigational daily pill for…
March 2, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Remyelination Research in Animal Models, Depression and Neurological Function, Ofatumumab Approval Moves Closer In this column, I’ll be highlighting some of the research presented at this year’s Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum, held last week in West Palm Beach, Florida. #ACTRIMS2020…
February 28, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Is a Rare Disease? I Think Not Feb. 29 is Rare Disease Day. It’s a day on which those in the rare disease community attempt to raise awareness about their diseases. I don’t think MS should be included. With about 2.5 million people worldwide…
February 24, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: New Baclofen Pump, Bone Marrow Transplant Study, Bladder Problems and Life Quality, Urinary Diversion Surgery Flowonix’s Prometra II Pump System Receives FDA Approval for Use with Intrathecal Baclofen This new pump could be a major step forward for people with multiple sclerosis who use a pump to deliver baclofen…
February 21, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Myeliviz Brings Hope for Faster MS Diagnosis Myeliviz is the name of a new compound approved for a clinical trial in the U.S. that has the potential to make the process of diagnosing multiple sclerosis faster and tracking the disease progression easier. It does this…
February 17, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Report on Ocrevus Use, Cognitive Decline in MS, Gold Nanocrystals and Remyelination Study Ocrevus Use Rises Among New Starters with RRMS, Loses Ground to Other Therapies in PPMS Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) bolted out of the starting gate after it was approved for use in the U.S. about three…
February 14, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Smoking and MS: Not a Good Match Some interesting statistics about people with multiple sclerosis in the U.K. have been released by Public Health England. The numbers are intended to help health commissioners and providers assess “the needs of patients with MS…
February 10, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Methionine, MSCT, Spinal Fluid, and BTK Blocker Studies Dietary Changes May Delay Development and Progression of MS, Study Finds Methionine is an amino acid found in meat, eggs, and dairy. It’s absorbed by T-cells that are part of our immune system. Those…
February 7, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Bladder Problems Keep Many of Us Looking for the Loo Are you frequently up at night for bathroom trips? When you’re outside, are you always looking for a loo? You’re not alone. A recent study confirms that the vast majority of people with multiple sclerosis are dealing with…
February 3, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Epstein-Barr, UTI Factors, New Myelin Imaging Agent, Nerve Impulses and Demyelination Epstein-Barr Virus and Certain Genes Interact in Ways That Can Promote MS, Study Finds Much has been written over the years about a possible connection between the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis. Here’s further…
January 31, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias Rising MS Medication Costs Mean Some Patients Are Skipping Doses Forced by medication costs to choose between regularly taking their medications or buying groceries, some people with multiple sclerosis are choosing the groceries. Some are skipping…
January 27, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Mayzent for SPMS Approved in EU, Memory Training, Trial of Music-based Product to Improve Walking Mayzent Helps Regulate the Immune System in SPMS, Study Shows Mayzent (siponimod) is one of several disease-modifying treatments that target specific T-cells and B-cells involved in damage to the myelin that protects our nerves.
January 24, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias April Hester Is Lacing Up Her MS Hiking Boots Again When I wrote about April Hester two years ago, she and her husband, Bernie, had just finished hiking the 500 miles of South Carolina’s…
May 16, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister If our MS lives were like Hollywood, what makes a movie a classic?