Past Episodes

What can you do when the MS medication you need can cost $80,000, $90,000 or even $100,000 a year, and you don't have health insurance? Or you have health insurance, but your insurance company won't approve the specific disease-modifying therapy that your neurologist thinks will be best for you? My guest is Lisa Aquillano, a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Multiple Sclerosis at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. And we're talking about specific steps that you can take to overcome th...

My guest is Stubhy Pandav, the lead singer of Lucky Boys Confusion and The Hoodie Life. Last year, Stubhy was diagnosed with MS. Then, Stubhy's insurance company told him that he couldn't start the disease-modifying therapy that his neurologist had prescribed. We'll talk with Stubhy about how he's managed to navigate this first year since his MS diagnosis, and we'll also talk with him about MS Sucks: Singing for a Cure, a benefit concert that's raising funds for the Accelerated Cure Project for...

November is National Family Caregiver Month, and while I was at the 4th Annual National Caregiving Conference in Chicago, I met this week's guest, Caregiver Strategist Penny Patnaude. Penny and I talked about some of the things that caregivers want to be thinking about in planning their own strategy for providing great care to their loved one without losing themselves in the process. I'll also introduce you to Dr. Lindsey Knowles, a young MS rehabilitation researcher who will give us an insider...

Last week, the National MS Society and RealTalk MS announced a new partnership. And we're definitely talking about it! My guest is Dr. Soha Saleh, a research scientist at Kessler Foundation's Center for Mobility and Rehabilitation Engineering Research, and we're talking about her innovative research in understanding how MS impacts dual-tasking -- something that all of us do, all day long. We'll tell you about the newly announced Weill Neurohub, and why that's such promising news for people aff...

My guest this week is Dr. Mary Bailey, a neurologist specializing in MS care at the Mandell Center for Multiple Sclerosis in Hartford, Connecticut, and we're talking about some of the changes that occur as relapsing-remitting MS transitions to secondary progressive MS. Since about 80% of the people living with relapsing-remitting MS will experience that transition to secondary progressive MS, I think it's an important conversation to have. Since yesterday was Veterans Day in the United States,...

My guest this week is Dr. Silvana Costa, a research scientist in the Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Center at the Kessler Foundation. Dr. Costa's work is focused on cognitive impairment in MS, specifically, information processing speed, which is something that people living with MS often have to deal with. We'll talk with Dr. Costa about some of her specific research, along with a promising intervention designed to improve cognitive processing speed for people living with MS. We're also talki...

My guest this week is TV personality, Montel Williams. Since receiving his MS diagnosis in 1999, Montel has been a highly visible advocate for people living with MS. We're talking to Montel about his initial reaction to his own MS diagnosis, and what advice he would give to someone who was diagnosed with MS today (HINT: it's great advice!). We'll also talk to Montel about My MS Second Act, a new initiative that he's helping to launch and that you can get involved in. We're also talking about th...

I'm back from attending the MS International Federation's People With MS Forum in Athens, Greece, and it was a remarkable few days spent with some truly remarkable people. In this episode of RealTalk MS, you'll meet two of those remarkable people. First, we'll talk with Dr. Laura Musambayi, the founder of the MS Association of Kenya. Dr. Musambayi will share her experiences in a country of 50 million people, with just 20 neurologists, and no access to disease-modifying therapy. Then, you'll mee...

For almost 20 years, the CLIMB Study has been following thousands of MS patients, discovering so many aspects of multiple sclerosis and documenting how the disease changes over time. My guest is Dr. Tanuja Chitnis, Director of the CLIMB Study, Director of the Partners Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, as well as the Director of the Translational Neuroimmunology Research Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital. We're also talking about an emerging topic tha...

When you're living with MS, it can feel as though you're taking a few extra things with you when you go to work. For instance, if you haven't told your employer that you've been diagnosed with MS, you're taking along the extra burden of having to keep a secret. You might be trying your best to manage your MS symptoms on the job, dealing with things like fatigue, vision problems, and even physical balance. During the workday, all of these things -- these "extra burdens" -- get piled right on top ...