Archive: September, 2009

• Hot off the ECTRIMS Press…Play Your Brain Games!

  Is it really possible to improve some, MS related, cognition issues by playing computer games? Doctors from Baylor College of Medicine here in Houston seem to think so. According to [...]

  • Caroline says: Sorry folks...the ECTRIMS data is trickling in slowly, namely because the conference hasn't happened yet. Please stay tuned! Anyway, according to this article, 65% of MS pts experience some form of cognitive dysfunction daily. These data show that brain games (rehabilitative therapy) help cognitive function in PWMS. The games are fun, really -- I posted about this awhile back.
     
  
  

  • No FluMist for People with Multiple Sclerosis

    Tuesday September 1, 2009 Most doctors and experts recommend that anyone with multiple sclerosis (MS) gets a seasonal flu shot. Influenza (the “flu”) is usually accompanied by [...]

    • Caroline says: According to this article, people with MS should NOT get their flu vaccine in the form of the inhaled version, FluMist. It is recommended that people with MS get flu shots, but not via FluMist. According to this article, the difference is that flu shots are made with inactive virus and FluMist is made with Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV), meaning that PWMS could potentially expose themselves to the flu by receiving FluMist.
       
    
    

    • Avonex Pre-Filled Syringes and My Wretched Side Effects

      Sometimes interferons, including AVONEX, make people feel sad. If you are taking AVONEX, and feel unusually sad, you should tell a family member or friend right away [...]

      • Caroline says: For the second week in a row, I have been up all night with crazy side effects from my Avonex injection. I have had flu and the shakes and sweats that have kept me up all night. This is very peculiar to me because I have been on Avonex since 1998 with little or no side effects. I don't get it. Does anyone else have this problem? Even when Avonex switched to the pre-filled syringes that wreaked absolute side effect havoc for many patients, I didn't really have a problem. But now, it's just making me so ill.
         
      
      

      • Mitoxantrone is highly efficient in suppressing MS

        Mitoxantrone: highly efficient escalation therapy in multiple sclerosis According to data supplied by the German Multiple Sclerosis Society’s national MS register (DMSG – Deutsche Multiple Sklerose Gesellschaft), [...]

        • Caroline says: A lot of patients in my neurologist's practice take mitoxantrone. I know this because I get infused with IVIG in the infusion suite there once a month and I see patients with their little blue bags of fluid getting pumped into their veins. Mitoxantrone effectively works in MS, but it is tough on your body, especially if you are of child-bearing age. You can only be administered a certain dose for your entire life, it is that toxic.
           
        
        

        • Swedish snuff doesn’t increase MS risk

          Washington, Sept 1 : Unlike cigarettes, Swedish snuff doesn’t increase a person’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), finds a new study. “While tobacco cigarettes increased a [...]

          • Caroline says: I found a loophole in the "smoking worsens MS" argument. A study found that while cigarette smoking increases disability in patients with MS as well as increases the risk for developing MS in genetically susceptible people, this was not so in Swedish smokers -- or those who used Swedish snuff. This suggests that tobacco is not the cause of MS worsening, but some other chemical or substance found in snuff.
             
          
          
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