January 26, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Cooking Dinner when MS Fatigue Has You Down The TV was on as background noise the other day, but the words of the commercial cut right through my noise filter. With a little drum beat in the background, a woman’s voice was saying, “The doctor called…
January 23, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Who Are You to Tell Me What MS Therapy I Need? I’m used to seeing insurance companies here in the United States make decisions about MS therapies, including refusing to pay for certain treatments unless other, less expensive ones are tried first. These, of course, are decisions that…
January 22, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Ocrevus in the EU, Salt and Cognitive Problems, Searching for Myelin, Tecfidera Tolerance European Commission Approves Ocrevus to Treat RRMS, PPMS Throughout EU This is a biggie. It’s been nearly a year since the FDA approved the use of Ocrevus here in the U.S. Finally, it’s been given the…
January 19, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Heavy-hitting MS Therapies Now Being Used Sooner for Some Patients I’m sitting in Florida and the start of spring training is only about six weeks from now, so please forgive a baseball analogy: The heavy-hitters of the MS-fighting treatments, the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), are moving up in…
January 16, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias A Tough Year to Fight the Flu I’m fighting a cold. I’m coughing and I’m congested. I’m hoping it’s not the flu. This is not a year to get the flu. The type of flu circulating in most of North America right now is…
January 15, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Rituxan, Medical Marijuana for Canadians, Extavia, Atira Trial Newly Diagnosed MS Patients Stay Longer on Rituxan Than Other Therapies, Study Finds This is a study that identifies which disease-modifying drugs new MS patients stuck with and which they gave up. And, why they made…
January 12, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Worrying About the Dye Used in My MRIs The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety alert about gadolinium, the dye that’s injected when our doctors order a brain MRI “with and without” contrast. The dye provides the contrast that “lights up” areas…
January 9, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Diagnosing MS Faster and Better As we all know, MS is difficult to diagnose. Put another way, it’s easy to misdiagnose. There’s no single diagnostic test for MS. Neurologists use their clinical examination, the patient’s medical history, and lab tests. They also…
January 8, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: MRI Dyes, Diagnosis Criteria, Handwriting and MS, Progressive MS Research FDA Warns of Risks Linked to Gadolinium-based Contrast Agents Used in MRI Scans I had a brain MRI a couple of weeks ago and I asked the technician about the FDA warning about the dye that…
January 5, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias My Lemtrada Journey: A New Year’s Update Happy new year to all. The start of the new year seems like a good time to assess what my journey has been like since my first round of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) back in December 2016. The road…
December 22, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias Young MSers Keeping Dreams Alive This will be my final column for this year because of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Rather than ending 2017 with another 500 or so fascinating words from me, I’d like to leave you, instead, with…
December 19, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias Monkey See, Monkey Do: Helping Hands for People with MS I was just monkeying around while on vacation a few weeks ago, amazed that the animals jumping between my wife and myself were actually listening to the commands of their owner. I knew that chimps and apes were…
December 18, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: MS Pain, Your Bioclock, Remyelination Chronic and Neuropathic Pain in MS Patients Should Be Routinely Evaluated, Study Says The next time a doctor tells you that there’s no pain associated with MS, point them to this study. Yes, MS can cause chronic pain…
December 15, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias Using Biotin? It Could Impact Your Lab Results Be careful if you’re using high-dose biotin (vitamin B7). The biotin in your blood could lead to some false readings when you have that blood tested. The level of concern about this is high enough to warrant a warning…
December 12, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias Should MS Therapy Prices Reflect How Diligently We Take Our Meds? Would you be more likely to stick to your MS drug schedule if being diligent lowered the cost of that drug? Biogen, which makes half a dozen MS drugs, including Avonex and Tysabri, seems to…
December 11, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Mavenclad, Steroids, Blood Tests, Laquinimod, MS Diagnosis Health Canada Approves Merck’s Mavenclad to Treat RRMS The European Union OK’d Mavenclad back in August. Now, Canada has come on board with approval for this oral MS therapy, which has been reporting very good success…
December 8, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias What I Learned About My MS While on Vacation You wouldn’t think that a guy who was diagnosed with MS more than 37 years ago would still be able to learn a thing or two about his disease. But that’s exactly what I did while on…
December 5, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias Social Media’s World of MS Misinformation I’m worried about social media. Specifically, I’m worried about the many MS-related groups in the Facebook world. There are general MS groups and there are groups dedicated to specific MS treatments. I belong to several, and though…
December 1, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias A Wheelchair that Drives Itself I never thought I’d find a subject for this MS column in the technology magazine Wired. But, what do you know? A recent article suggested that the same technology being used to create self-driving cars…
November 28, 2017 Columns by Ed Tobias She Has MS and She Just Hiked 500 Miles Well, 460.75 miles (741.5 km), to be exact. When I wrote about April Hester in late September, the headline on my column was “She Has MS and She’s Planning to Hike 500 Miles.” Well, she did…
April 15, 2024 Columns by Leigh Anne Nelson What does ‘delicate balance’ mean in my life with multiple sclerosis?