November 28, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Climate Change, MS Progression, Brain Shrinkage Welcome to “MS News Notes,” where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s happening: Study reports climate change makes MS symptoms worse Climate change may lead…
November 25, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Dr. Amazon Takes a Third Jab at Medical Care For the past few years, the company that brings us everything from books to basketballs has been experimenting with doing the same with medical care. Of course, it’s Amazon. In 2018, the company launched a project called Haven…
November 21, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Stem Cell Therapy, EBV Vaccine, Diabetes, Diets Welcome to “MS News Notes,” where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s happening: Understanding stem cell therapy Researchers in Zurich wanted to…
November 18, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias The MS Hug: A Frightening Embrace You’d Rather Not Have In the 42 years that I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis (MS) I’m glad that I’ve only been hugged twice. I’m talking about the MS hug, and it wasn’t fun. This MS symptom can feel like pressure or…
November 14, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Foralumab, ATA188, Precision Care, PoNS Trial Welcome to “MS News Notes,” where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s happening: Could a nasal spray join the MS treatment arsenal?…
November 11, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias These Home Accommodations Can Make Living With MS Easier What do you do to make living with multiple sclerosis (MS) easier? A similar question was posed to readers of the MS News Today Facebook page recently, and about 175 people responded. Even an MS old-timer like…
November 7, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Stem Cell Transplant Versus DMTs, Treatment Efficacy, Cancer Risk, Employment Welcome to “MS News Notes,” where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. The articles in today’s column came from the annual Congress of the European Committee…
November 4, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias My New Set of Wheels Is More Accommodating to MS Needs I’ve been feeling like a soccer mom the past month or so, even though I’m a 74-year-old guy. My wife and I are leasing a minivan, the go-to wheels of after-school sports parents. It also seems to be a…
October 31, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: ECTRIMS, Ocrevus, Kesimpta, Epstein-Barr, DMTs Here are a few multiple sclerosis (MS) stories that caught my eye last week. Two of them came out of this year’s Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis…
October 28, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Do Doctors Discriminate Against People With Disabilities? “I Am Not The Doctor For You” is the title of a shocking new study published earlier this month in the journal Health Affairs. It reports that a number of doctors acknowledged being uncomfortable with treating people with…
October 24, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Nabiximols, Spinal Fluid Biomarkers, Mediterranean Diet, ‘Shaky’ Treadmill Here are a few multiple sclerosis (MS) stories that caught my eye last week: Can nabiximols ease MS spasticity? In “4 Weeks of Nabiximols Found to Ease Spasticity in MS Pilot Study,” Margarida Maia…
October 21, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Time for COVID-19 Boosters and Seasonal Flu Shots It’s the time of the season. Every year around this time, I get a seasonal flu shot. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, certainly all of my adult life. But this year is…
October 17, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Cholesterol and MS Progression, Fatigue, Epstein-Barr Note: This column has been updated Oct. 18, 2022, to correct the name of the cholesterol medicine the columnist uses to Pravachol. Here are a few multiple sclerosis (MS) stories that caught my eye last week:…
October 14, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias New Gadolinium-based Contrast Agent Elucirem Will Soon Be Available for MRIs If you have multiple sclerosis (MS), you’ve probably had several MRIs “with” and “without.” The “with” means injecting a contrast agent containing gadolinium into a vein. The agent then travels into the brain, where it “lights up”…
October 10, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: aHSCT, Iron Rim Lesions, Smell Test, Electrical Brain Stimulation The following multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories caught my eye last week: Stem cell transplant and nerve fiber damage This small study of 43 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis who underwent autologous hematopoietic…
October 7, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Is Your Disability Ready for an Emergency Like Hurricane Ian? “I thought it would never happen to me.” I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard someone utter that phrase during my four decades in the news media. Last week, it happened to me.
October 3, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: ODRS Test, Kesimpta, Coping Strategies, Dual Tasking Study Supports MS Disability Test Score as Outcome Measure in Trials Adding two other disability measurements to the commonly used Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is a good idea, not only for trials…
September 30, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias My Wife and I Hit Some Bumps on Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road It wasn’t easy for my wife, Laura, and I to enjoy one of Elton John’s concerts on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour the other night. Sir Elton was appearing at Nationals…
September 26, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Gut Bacteria, Strength Training, Robots, Gilenya Patent Gut Bacteria Are Altered in MS, Linked to Disease Progression Several studies have indicated that the composition of gut bacteria in people with MS is different from that of healthy people. But earlier studies…
September 23, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias My Wife Says I Should Follow My Own (MS) Advice I have to be honest: I haven’t always been honest. I don’t always practice what I preach. My wife called me out on that as we watched an interview I did recently about multiple sclerosis on Montel…
November 30, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Is multiple sclerosis everywhere, or am I just more aware of it now?