Past Episodes

Whether we adults admit it or not, kids see everything. That includes seeing a parent or other family member who's living with MS. And because kids don't have an understanding of neurological conditions, they use their imaginations to fill in the blanks. That can very quickly take them down a rabbit-hole that's far scarier than the reality of living with MS. So, when do you talk to your kids about MS? And what do you say? Licensed social worker and behavioral specialist Erin Martin joins me to ...

Everybody remembers the day -- sometimes, even the moment -- when they were diagnosed with MS. And in that moment, you may not have known very much about living with MS, but you probably felt like everything was about to change. One of the most common emotional responses to MS is grief. Joining me to talk about the relationship between grief and MS, as well as share some specific steps and strategies that you can take to process and manage grief in a healthy way is clinical psychologist Dr. Ros...

When I began thinking about launching RealTalk MS, one of the first things I did was listen to other podcasts for the MS community. Five years ago, there weren't nearly as many podcasts focused on MS as there are today, but one of the podcasts I listened to was FUMS. And after listening to that podcast, I remember feeling inspired about moving forward with my plans for launching this podcast. Joining me to talk about her journey from being diagnosed with MS to launching her podcast and learning...

Health disparities, systemic inequities, and discrimination often stand in the way of gaining access to MS care for members of the LGBTQ+ community. As we explore some of the obstacles faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community in accessing healthcare, we'll gain the clinician's perspective in our conversation with MS specialist, Dr. William Conte. We'll hear about the experiences of a queer trans person living with MS when we talk with Payshunz Nagashima. And we'll learn about the National MS So...

One afternoon during the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers Annual Meeting, I set up my equipment at the National MS Society's booth in the conference exhibit hall and recorded some conversations with a few old friends and a few new friends of the podcast. In this week's episode, we'll hear a couple of those conversations. Before I left for the conference, I had a chance to catch up with Dr. Saud Sadiq. So, we'll begin this episode with an update on his mesenchymal stem cell clinical tria...

In 2007, Tyler Campbell was a running back at San Diego State, looking forward to a real shot at a career in the NFL. Instead, Tyler's life was turned upside down by an MS diagnosis. For some people, that would have been the end of the story. For Tyler, it was only the beginning. In this week's episode, Tyler Campbell talks about his transformational journey from the football field to becoming a motivational and inspirational leader in the MS movement. We have a lot to talk about! Are you rea...

Starting a family is a big step for anyone. And when you're living with MS and you're on MS medications along with other symptom management medications, planning a family creates a lot of questions about what's safe and what's not. Dr. Annette Langer-Gould, a clinician-scientist and MS specialist in the Kaiser-Permanente health system, joins me to answer questions about how to safely and successfully navigate conception, pregnancy, and the postpartum period with MS. We'll also get a briefing f...

Think about how much faster, easier, cheaper, and less invasive it would be if MS could be diagnosed by a simple blood test. Scientists have identified biomarkers that can be used to diagnose MS and even predict MS before someone experiences any symptoms. Biomarkers may even be used to predict MS progression before it occurs. Joining me to discuss how biomarkers may change the way MS is diagnosed and treated is Dr. Tanuja Chitnis, a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, as well as ...

When my wife was diagnosed with MS in 1997, the annual cost of her MS medication was $9,000. Today, the annual cost of that same medication is $110,000. We cannot allow the insanity associated with the cost of MS medications to continue. Joining me to discuss the impact of the outrageously high cost of MS medications -- and what each of us can do about it -- is the National MS Society's Vice-President of Advocacy, Steffany Stern. We're also talking about a Phase 1 clinical trial for an invest...

For some, the journey to their MS diagnosis is relatively quick and straightforward. For others, it can be lengthy and convoluted, sometimes taking years. Joining me to talk about some of the twists and turns that can pop up on the road to being diagnosed with MS is Dr. Michael Robers, a neurologist in the Multiple Sclerosis Program and an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute. We're also talking about a study that measured MS prevalence among Blac...