May 11, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS, Walkers, Wheelchairs, and Guns (Part 2) A little over a year ago, in this column, I asked if it was safe for someone with MS to handle a gun. I wondered whether there would be safety issues due to problems with grip strength, balance,…
May 7, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Mavenclad Analysis, Ocrevus and Vaccines, an MS Rehab Technique, a Cattle Toxin and MS Mavenclad Effective in Treating Highly Active MS, New CLARITY Analysis Shows Mavenclad isn’t approved for use in the U.S. but it is approved in Canada, Europe, and other parts of the world. Here’s another positive study…
May 4, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Website Shows How Much Money Your Doctor Gets from Big Pharma Biogen, a pharmaceutical company that markets half a dozen MS therapies, is accused of paying doctors to prescribe its medications. A former Biogen employee claimed that the company paid fake consulting and speaking fees to doctors who prescribed…
May 1, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Is This a Step Toward Lower Medication Prices? Here in the U.S., the price we pay for medications is complicated. The usual process is for a pharmaceutical company to set a high price for a medication when it first hits the market. But, like buying a…
April 30, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye This Week: aHSCT Studies, MS Progression in African-Americans, Gilenya for Pediatrics #AAN2018 – Stem Cell Transplant is Effective Treatment for ‘Aggressive’ MS, Study Shows I like the fact that a study shows that stem cell transplant treatment is effective for aggressive MS. I love the fact that…
April 27, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias New DMT Guidelines Are Good for MS Patients The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has just released some new guidelines about when to begin, change, and end disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that are used to treat MS patients. The guidelines, published on April 23, encourage aggressive…
April 24, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Research Reveals Another Possible Epstein-Barr Virus Link to MS Editor’s note: To learn more about the link between the Epstein-Barr virus and MS, read Ed’s May 2020 column titled “More Evidence Links Epstein-Barr Virus to MS.” For years researchers have believed a link exists between the…
April 23, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Ocrevus Experiences, Early MS Treatment Study, Cognitive Decline 5 MS Patients Across US Talk About How Ocrevus Has Changed Their Lives There’s high interest in Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), one of two disease-modifying therapies that have shown promise for reversing some multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. (The…
April 20, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Is This the Key that Unlocks Stem Cell Treatments for MS? Americans who want to treat their MS with a stem cell transplant have a tough road to follow. They’re forced to travel to Russia, Mexico, or somewhere else out of the country and to spend a lot of…
April 17, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias I Hope My MS Treatments Are Done for Good With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe, quoth the Lemmie, “Nevermore.” As I write this, the final brown bag of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) has just begun to drip into a vein in my left arm. If all goes “as advertised,”…
April 16, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: New Lemtrada Side Effect, MS Cooling Vests, and Drug Infection Risks Acute Acalculous Cholecystitis Linked to Lemtrada Use in RRMS Patients, FDA Reports The makers of Lemtrada have added the possibility of another serious side effect to the warning carried on the therapy’s label. The addition follows…
April 13, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS Forums Section Added to MS News Today: Join Our Conversation Do you have a question or comment about MS? Can you answer someone else’s question? We’ve just created an MS Forums section on Multiple Sclerosis News Today designed to spark conversations about our MS and to try…
April 10, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Lemtrada Round 2: My Drip Stops Here As you read this, I likely will be in the middle of, or finished with, my second round of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab). Hopefully, this will be the final round of this disease-modifying therapy (DMT), and the final MS…
April 9, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Online Meditation, Coordination of MS Care, a Walking Drug Test, Stopping Your DMT Online Meditation Course Seen to Help MS Patients Manage Symptoms in Clinical Trial Can someone use a website to learn how to meditate, and then do it well enough to have their MS symptoms improve? Well,…
April 6, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Do Online Medical Records Make You Worry? A few weeks ago I warned of the dangers that are possible when people turn to social media for information about their MS. But there’s another danger that technology and the internet have brought us: access…
March 27, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Is MS Keeping Me from Smelling the Roses? For years, my wife and I have disagreed about smells. She smells something and I don’t. I tell her that her nose is too sensitive. She tells me to get out the air freshener. Over the 37…
March 26, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Stem Cells, Sense of Smell, Cannabis Guide Blood Stem Cell Transplants Improve RRMS Patients’ Disability, Phase 3 Trial Shows Here’s yet another study that shows the benefits of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or AHSCT — the procedure in which a…
March 23, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias It Shouldn’t Be This Hard to Get Our MS Medications I got a phone call from my MS One to One nurse, Lynn, today. One to One is the patient support service provided by Sanofi Genzyme for patients on the biotech company’s MS disease-modifying therapies (DMTs)…
March 20, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias These Bills Could Help You Save Money on Prescription Medications As we all know, the cost of prescription medications can be outrageous. Disease-modifying therapies aside, even with insurance, the medications we get from a pharmacy can take quite a bite out of a budget. Though many people…
March 19, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: PPMS Treatments, Myelin Repair, the Blood-brain Barrier, Sunlight New Spherix Report Finds PPMS Treatment Increased Significantly in Past Year Primary progressive MS has, in some eyes, been the stepchild of the disease-modifying therapies. PPMS patients move steadily downhill, and some believe treatments haven’t kept…
April 22, 2024 Columns by Desiree Lama Learning to manage cognitive impairment with multiple sclerosis
April 18, 2024 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Learning how to write a ‘SOAP’ note feels different after an MS diagnosis
April 15, 2024 Columns by Leigh Anne Nelson What does ‘delicate balance’ mean in my life with multiple sclerosis?