Living With MS Episodes

For some people, getting in their car and heading for, well, anywhere represents freedom and independence. For others, it's a way to get to their jobs, get to their medical appointments, get the kids to school, and run necessary errands. MS can change all of that. Occupational Therapist and Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist Jenny Nordine joins me to discuss how to preserve your independence while protecting yourself and the people around you when you're driving with MS. You'll also me...

As Harvard Fellow Dr. Nara Michaelson treated women who had been recently diagnosed with MS, she recognized they shared characteristics that she had observed in victims of violent domestic abuse. Dr. Michaelson's observation led her to write The Unraveling, an essay that highlights the fear that can accompany the uncertainty of living with MS. Dr. Michaelson joins me to discuss the experiences that led to her award-winning essay and to share resources that can help maintain your emotional healt...

The inequities associated with gaining access to quality healthcare are often discussed, and my guest this week has taken steps to address them. Dr. Jaime Imitola and his team at UCONN Health have created a tool called VISIBL-MS, a bilingual framework designed to increase doctors' and patients' awareness of the early signs of MS. We'll also share the results of a study that clearly illustrate progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA). We'll tell you about a small study that showed a p...

When it comes to living your best life when you're living with MS, the first step is to make smart lifestyle choices. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle doesn't require pills, injections, or infusions. And making smart lifestyle choices can make a real, measurable difference in your quality of life. Joining me to talk about the benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and share some tips and strategies for living your best life when you're living with MS is Dr. Lisa Doggett, a family and lifest...

May 30th is World MS Day, and we're taking this opportunity to look at some of the challenges faced by people with MS around the world. Global economics and the peculiarities of different healthcare systems make fundamental issues like access to quality healthcare and affordable MS medications difficult for many and impossible for some. U.K. journalist and MS activist Rachel Horne joins me for a freewheeling conversation focused on the broad range of challenges that people with MS face every da...

We've reached a moment in time when it seems impossible to avoid at least some level of stress in our lives. We also know that stress has been shown to make MS symptoms worse and even trigger relapses. We can't eliminate all the stress in our lives, so learning how to manage and minimize stress is an important part of living well with MS. This week, Dr. Grace Tworek, a Clinical Health Psychologist at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis at the Cleveland Clinic, joins me to talk about best p...

In past episodes of this podcast, we've discussed disparities in healthcare. We've looked at evidence that shows members of historically underserved communities who are living with MS can face a more severe disease course. We've looked at studies that have shown some members of these racial and ethnic minority groups don't do as well on disease-modifying therapies, and their MS progresses more quickly. It's often been speculated that the reason behind these disparities is based on genetics -- t...

MS affects women almost 3 times more frequently than it affects men, which makes understanding how MS may impact other women's health issues a priority. Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl and Dr. Anna Shah join me as we take a deep dive into both the research and clinical side of how MS affects women's health and how those other health issues may affect MS. Dr. Shah is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Associate Clinic Director of Outpatient Neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. D...

If you're a regular listener, you've probably heard me say that the pace of scientific discovery is moving faster than ever before. Or you may have heard the National MS Society remind us that we've seen as many advances in MS research in the past 5 years as we have in the previous 70 years. Have you ever wondered why? A major driver of this acceleration of discovery is the technology that allows scientists to analyze massive amounts of information looking for relationships or identifying chara...

March 28th is Progressive MS Day, a day that offers an opportunity for people affected by MS, patient advocates, healthcare providers, governments, and industry to share stories online and show their support for people living with progressive forms of MS. My wife, Jeanne, lived with progressive MS for 23 years, so this day holds a special significance for me. Joining me to talk about what Progressive MS Day is all about is my friend, Kevin Reid. Kevin was diagnosed with MS in 2002 and, for the ...