Living With MS Episodes

Wise men and women remind us that life is a marathon, and not a sprint. Joining us this week is Benji Wilkins. Benji is a magician in the U.K., and for 42 days this summer, his life was quite literally a marathon. In the process, Benji raised money to help his mom, who lives with MS, and he raised awareness of MS across the U.K. and around the world. We're also sharing results of a study that focused on gait training using a powered exoskeleton for people living with MS. We'll tell you how you...

Imagine your spouse or significant other has been diagnosed with MS...shortly after you were diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, and given just a 15% chance of survival. All of a sudden, the roles of patient and care partner are up for grabs -- and they change with almost daily frequency. That's exactly the scenario my guest, Kathleen Silva, faced. Kathleen is joining me to discuss how she and her husband, Rick, survived and thrived amid that frightening chaos. (Spoiler alert -- no one died!)...

If you Google the term "shared decision making", you'll find it defined as a collaborative process where patients and clinicians work together to select tests, treatments, and care plans based on clinical evidence and the patient's personal values and goals. But shared decision-making isn't an automatic happy pill. It takes work, it takes discipline, and it takes a clear understanding of both the patient's and the clinician's roles. This week, Dr. Aliza Ben-Zacharia and Linda Lachman join me to...

We get more listener emails about diet and MS than almost any other topic. If you're curious about how some of the well-known diets for MS actually stack up, or you're interested in understanding the connection between diet and MS-related fatigue, or you want to know what the biggest obstacle to staying on a new diet is (and this may surprise you), then this is the episode for you. We're devoting this week's entire episode to my conversation with Dr. Tyler Titcomb, an assistant professor in the...

If you've spent any time at all living with or caring for someone with multiple sclerosis, you know that medical textbooks and information-filled websites can give us facts, figures, and symptoms, but they rarely capture the sometimes messy, sometimes overwhelming, and sometimes darkly funny reality of what it actually feels like to get a diagnosis of MS and realize your life has suddenly shifted under your feet. Our guest, Liat Shalom, was diagnosed with MS in 2021, at the age of 30. Instead...

Living with depression has been described as "like living under a wet, heavy blanket". It can stop someone from showing up at work, meeting up with friends, and even connecting with their family. One out of every two people living with MS will experience depression at some point in their MS journey. The METS for MS study is focused on a novel approach to treating major depressive disorder among people with MS -- one that doesn't require another infusion, injection, or pill. This week, Dr. ...

The Americans with Disabilities Act ensures that people living with disabilities receive reasonable accommodations at work. That law also applies to students attending most colleges and universities. And the ADA doesn't limit itself to physical disabilities. It's often applied to invisible disabilities, as well. This week, Britt Neff, the Access Specialist at the University of Washington School of Law, joins me to explain all the ways the accommodation process can work for college students livi...

Next week, Matt Knaggs and Colin Goodman will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for running the 350-mile length of Ireland with MS. This week, you'll meet Matt and Colin and learn why this undertaking is so important to each of them. We're also sharing survey results that point to gaps in how we approach MS care from the day of diagnosis. We'll tell you what it really means when you read that the prevalence of MS is increasing. It isn't bad news at all! We'll provide you with all the det...

May 30th is World MS Day! This year, the theme for World MS Day is "My MS Diagnosis," and I've been thinking about what happens right after that diagnosis. After an individual hears, "You have MS." This week, Dr. Nancy Sicotte joins me to discuss the things you should know, the things you should be thinking about, and the things you should be doing in the first 100 days following an MS diagnosis. Dr. Sicotte is the Chair of Neurology and Director of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology at Ce...

One out of every two people with MS will experience clinical depression at some point in their MS journey, making depression one of the most significant yet under-discussed aspects of living with MS. While the physical symptoms of MS often take center stage, the neuropsychiatric challenges can be just as impactful on an individual's overall quality of life and long-term outcomes. Joining us to shed some light on this important topic is Dr. Anthony Feinstein, a world-renowned neuropsychiatrist a...