Diagnosed with MS at age 32 in 1980, Ed has written the “MS Wire” column for Multiple Sclerosis News Today since August 2016. He presents timely information on MS, blended with personal experiences. Before retiring from full-time work in 2012, Tobias spent more than four decades in broadcast and on-line newsrooms as a manager, reporter, and radio news anchor. He’s won several national broadcast awards.
As an MS patient communicator, Ed consults with healthcare and social media companies. He’s the author of “The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox…Tools and Tips for Living With MS.” Ed and his wife split time between the Washington, D.C. suburbs and Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Note: This column was updated March 30, 2023, to remove the statement that Briumvi is more potent than Ocrevus or Kesimpta as there have been no trials comparing the three therapies’ potency. Welcome to “MS News Notes,” a Monday…
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I’m filling in for Ian Franks this week on news item picks for Multiple Sclerosis News Today while Ian is in Moscow taking the first step in his HSCT (hematopoietic stem cell transplantation) quest. We wish him well.
Osteoporosis (fragile bones) is only a women’s problem, right? Wrong, especially if you have multiple sclerosis — as I’ve discovered. Osteoporosis causes bones to become weak and brittle. A fall that probably wouldn’t harm a healthy person can…
Have you tried Pilates to improve your mobility? When my wife and I tried it, a few years ago, I thought that it was sort of like doing yoga stretches using exercise equipment. It felt good and, for…
It’s that time of the year. Drug insurance companies in the U.S. are making changes to their formularies — the list of drugs that your insurance company will pay for. Those formularies change from year to year…
What should be done about stem cell treatments? Are stem cells safe? Do they work? Do stem cell clinics need more regulation, or less? With some studies reporting encouraging results from using stem cells to treat a…
I hate to admit it, but I’m getting kind of old. That’s not to say that 68 is really old, but I’m probably older than a lot of you who are reading this. I’m also 36 years old…
You don’t see people with disabilities very often in television ads. And when you do, the person with the handicap is usually playing a secondary role or the ad uses the disabled person for an emotional appeal. It’s not…
A post on another website, asking about whether it was wise for someone with Multiple Sclerosis to receive the shingles vaccine, caught my attention the other day. “Have any of you had the Shingles vaccine? I’m…
Tripping, falling and bloody knees. Been there. Done that. (Who with MS hasn’t)? But this wasn’t me. This was Cheryl Hile and it was happening to her as she was running a half marathon in Carlsbad, California. Cheryl…
Anyone with a chronic medical problem knows how expensive drugs can be, and how a drug that you need can be here today … gone tomorrow on the list of drugs that your health plan will pay for.
I love the water. Good thing, since I live at the beach. Being in a swimming pool is also good therapy for my MS. It strengthens my core and arms and, when I do a little pool walking,…
The other day I received a very troubling direct message from someone on another Multiple Sclerosis website: “I was diagnosed with MS in 2004 but, foolishly, dismissed it. Other than bad spacisity [spasticity] and a…
Don’t you just love the walking test when you see your neurologist for your annual exam? “Let’s see how fast you can walk to me,” she says. The test is called the T25-FW, and it measures how long…
Feeling tired? No surprise there. Fatigue is as much a part of living with Multiple Sclerosis as sand is a part of the beach where I live. It’s interesting, then, that neurologists seem to have no good system…
Flight is freedom in its purest form, To dance with the clouds which follow a storm; To roll and glide, to wheel and spin, To feel the…
Do you remember when you applied for a handicapped license plate? I put it off for quite a while after I was diagnosed. After all, I could walk several city blocks fairly easily. I could still play…
Editor’s Note: Multiple Sclerosis News Today is pleased to welcome Ed Tobias to our team of Patient Specialists and Columnists. Ed brings a wealth of journalistic experience to his new column, “The MS Wire,” which explores the latest science…
You probably haven’t heard of Edward Dowd. I hadn’t until I read about him in the latest issue of the National MS Society’s magazine, Momentum. I learned that Ed is a big-time landlord. The company he founded…
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