Living With MS Episodes

March 28th is Progressive MS Day. While only about 15% of the people diagnosed with MS are initially given a diagnosis of Primary Progressive MS, about 65% of the people who are diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS will eventually develop Secondary Progressive MS. And the difference between progressive MS and relapsing-remitting MS is that, usually, people diagnosed with Progressive MS don't experience any remission in their disease progression. Their MS just seems to worsen more steadily over ...

My guest this week is Diane Whitcraft, a retired middle school teacher who had been taking the same MS prescription medication for more than 20 years. But once Diane retired and her health insurance changed, that same medication became unaffordable. Diane traveled to Washington D.C. last month, as Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin's guest at the President's State of the Union address. She is back in our nation's capitol this week, speaking at the National MS Society's Public Policy Conference abo...

No matter what sort of challenge a caregiver may be facing -- financial, emotional, or just trying to find the right resources at the right time, every caregiver challenge is made more difficult by that accompanying feeling of isolation that so many caregivers experience. My guest is Heidi Telschow, manager of Fairview Health Services' Caregiver Assurance program, a unique program designed to seamlessly connect caregivers to the resources they need. We're also talking about the eye-popping inc...

Over the past year, we've seen our access to affordable, quality healthcare come under unprecedented attack. We've seen a federal judge declare the Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional. And we continue to see our access to affordable prescription medications -- the medications that have been shown to delay the progression of MS and extend the quality of life for everyone living with MS -- that access remains threatened by the constant skyrocketing cost of those medications. That's why advo...

George Pepper was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009, at the age of 22. He initially found it difficult to connect with others his own age who were living with MS, so George set up a website where people living with MS could meet and share their experiences. That website evolved into an online community called shift.ms, and today, more than 18,000 people participate in the shift.ms community. My guests today are the founder of shift.ms, George Pepper, and Aoife Kirwan, a member of the shi...

One of the best ways to maintain physical function, manage the effect of some MS symptoms, and even offset depression is exercise. My guest is Dr. Deborah Backus, the director of Multiple Sclerosis Research at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. We're discussing the importance of early rehabilitation, the difference that exercise can make for people living with MS, and STEP FOR MS -- an important clinical trial that may turn out to be a game-changer for MS rehabilitation. We're also talking about w...

Recent research suggests that loneliness is one more invisible symptom of MS. But social outreach and interaction have never been more accessible. My guest is Mary Pettigrew, an MS Warrior and social media phenom. In 2014, Mary launched MSPals, a Twitter group that has evolved into a community of more than 5,000 followers. We're talking with Mary about the benefits of connecting online and the importance of finding your creative outlet. We're also talking about new research on the severity and ...

Some people living with MS may find that their attention span is shorter than it used to be, or that it takes them longer to process information. Learning directions can be hard, and decision-making may become more difficult. These are all examples of impaired cognition, or cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive dysfunction can impact people living with relapsing-remitting MS, and it impacts almost everyone living with progressive MS. My guest is Dr. Nancy Chiaravalloti, the Director of Neuropsycholo...

It's our final episode of the year, and we're taking a look back at what you decided were the most important RealTalk MS podcast episodes of the past year. These are the episodes that received the highest number of listener downloads. We're also polishing our crystal ball, taking a look ahead to 2019, and talking about some of the research that we can expect to be hearing about. We'll even share some of the specific topics that we'll be discussing on the podcast in the coming year. Thanks to y...

The holiday season seems to carry with it the message of hope, and of finding the best side of who we are. So one of the gifts that I'm going to unwrap with you is a replay of a conversation that I had earlier this year, with 2 people who epitomize hope, humanity, and love. To me, that's what the holiday is all about, and that's what Dan and Jennifer Digmann are all about. Jennifer was diagnosed with Progressive MS in 1997, and Dan was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS in 2000. Dan & Jennif...