July 11, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: COVID-19, Predicting Progression, Early Treatment, Estriol Higher COVID-19 Risk Tied to 2 MS Therapies, Even With Vaccination According to this study, people being treated with Ocrevus had 3.6 times the risk of a breakthrough COVID-19 infection compared with people being treated with most other…
July 8, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Trial Results a Setback for US Approval of Nabiximols for MS Spasticity This news seems disappointing: A Phase 3 clinical trial of nabiximols — which is available under the brand name Sativex in several countries, including Canada and most of Europe — has failed to meet its primary goal…
July 1, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias A New Gift Helps Me Stay Cool in the Summer Heat OK, I know I look silly wearing this — maybe even scary — but the Father’s Day gift I received from my son and his family is really cool, especially for someone with multiple sclerosis. Just in time…
June 27, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: aHSCT, NICE Guidelines, ED, Neural Sleeve aHSCT, Stem Cell Therapy for RRMS, Troubled by Unknowns, Paper Says This research team says more studies are needed before aHSCT should be used for people with MS. But this has been the standard…
June 24, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Why I’m Giving 3 MS Medications Another Try Over the many years I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis (MS), I’ve used several medications to treat my MS symptoms. Some have helped, some haven’t, and some worked at first but then lost their efficacy. I recently returned…
June 20, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Vidofludimus Calcium, Foralumab, Exoskeleton, Dysport Vidofludimus Calcium Safely Reduced RRMS Brain Lesions Vidofludimus calcium, also called IMU-838, is an oral therapy designed to reduce the activity of B- and T-cells. These are immune cells believed to be responsible for…
June 17, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias She Disclosed Her Illness and Got the Job It’s a decision most of us with a chronic illness have to make sooner or later: When do we disclose our illness, and to whom, and how do we do it? Thirty-one-year-old Katie Coleman faced that decision not long…
June 13, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Evusheld, Immunotherapy, Blood Test, Aubagio Evusheld Boosts Antibodies Against COVID-19 in Vaccinated Patients Research has shown that the COVID-19 vaccines have been effective for people being treated with disease-modifying therapies, except for those that target B-cells, such as Ocrevus…
June 10, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Does Medical Marijuana Help the Pain That Comes With MS? Will your doctor approve you to buy medical marijuana (MMJ)? Two of mine will and one won’t. The doctor who won’t, a primary care physician who works within a medical group, told me it’s the group’s…
June 6, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Ublituximab, Lyvispah, Diet Study FDA Decision on Ublituximab for Relapsing MS Pushed to Year’s End Ublituximab is similar to Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) and Kesimpta (ofatumumab), which also target B-cells, the immune cells that play a role in…
June 3, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias A Road Trip From Florida to Maryland With No Bladder Incontinence After two days — 16 hours of it spent on the road — and 1,104 miles, I hadn’t had a single accident. My bladder control meds must’ve worked. The semiannual trip my wife and I take between…
May 27, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Another Busted Cane Leads to a Search for Something Better A few weeks ago, my cane mutinied. I’ve been using canes for about 20 years — first one, and then a pair. I’m tough on them and put a lot of weight on them. I take them out in…
May 23, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: DMTs and Symptoms, Aquatic Exercise, Infections ‘Hidden’ Disabilities Fairly Common at RRMS Diagnosis, Study Finds This headline doesn’t report the full nature of this story. In addition to being “fairly common,” the research concludes that disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) have little…
May 20, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Hoping for Medical Debt Relief? This Nonprofit Just Might Help It may sound like a joke or a scam, but there’s a nonprofit organization called RIP Medical Debt that might pay off your medical debt. Yep, all of it. According to the organization’s website, RIP Medical Debt has…
May 16, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Music, Resilience, Childhood Abuse, Exercise Biogen, MedRhythms Working on Music Therapy for MS Gait Issues This is music to my ears. Sorry, I couldn’t resist, but I’m a big music fan. Music in my ears really motivates me when…
May 13, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Hunt for EBV Vaccine Gets a Boost From NIH The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is joining the search for a vaccine to attack the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). This is a big deal for people with multiple sclerosis, because carrying the virus is thought to play…
May 9, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Cannabis, Keto Diet, Tysabri, MS Unknowns Cannabis ‘Highly Effective’ Against MS Symptoms, Some Users Report I would’ve expected many users to report that cannabis has been highly effective at treating MS symptoms, not just some. But comments about this study…
May 6, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias An Accessible Cruise With Family, Canes, and a Scooter Was a Breeze It’s not easy going for a cruise when a scooter and a couple of canes come along for the trip. I’ve done it with success a number of times in the past, and planning helps a lot. My…
May 2, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: PoNS, MS Survey, Nerve Damage Biomarker, Tolebrutinib PoNS Device for MS-associated Gait Problems Now Available in US One clinical trial showed that MS patients who used the portable neuromodulation stimulator (PoNS) device as part of an exercise program had greater improvements…
April 29, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias Remembering My First MS Symptom What was your first MS symptom? Mine — the one that made me realize something was really wrong — was my inability to squeeze the toothpaste tube with my left hand one morning. Of course, there were earlier…
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?