Source MS Trust:

Cognition and cognitive symptoms

About half of all people with multiple sclerosis have some degree of problem at some time with aspects of thinking – memory, attention span, planning, decision making, understanding or concentration. Cognition is the term that covers all these aspects and these symptoms are referred to as cognitive problems. Cognitive issues can arise early in the course of the condition, but the longer you have had MS the more likely problems are to occur.

For most people the symptoms are relatively mild and can fluctuate from day to day, so initially you may not recognise them as an aspect of your MS and put them down to other reasons such as stress, overwork, tiredness or just getting older. Cognitive issues can be made worse by other symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety, depression, or even some medications.

The most common cognitive problems experienced by people with MS are poor memory and trouble concentrating, which they often describe as ‘brain fog’ or ‘fuzziness’. Research suggests that cognitive symptoms usually stay the same over several years, or only very gradually worsen, giving you time to develop strategies to compensate for any difficulties.  Read on.

Source Multiple Sclerosis News Today:

I had always envisioned that I would be an active and healthy grandparent when the time came — not one with a disability. I was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) in the summer of 2010, which also happened to be the same year my first grandchild was born.

I was ecstatic about being a grandma, yet apprehensive about how active I would be able to be. I also understood it meant that I might not be as helpful with the baby as I wanted to be. I would need to adapt my grandma skills to co-exist with my decreasing mobility and my increasing symptoms.

I am now blessed to have four beautiful grandchildren. They love me, and I, of course, love them. We play, use our imaginations, and I also sneak some learning in. It took time for me to get past my insecurities of feeling that my grandchildren were being shortchanged somehow in the grandma department. I had to work hard be able to move past my misguided feelings of inadequacy. It is not easy to be limited in a physical capacity while feeling as if you are not good enough. Read on. 

Source Queen Mary University of London:

A drug for multiple sclerosis (MS) has been granted a license by the European Commission, following evidence from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) that it improves patients’ quality of life and is safer than previously thought.

MS is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system affecting more than 120,000 people in the UK and 2.5 million people globally, leading to disability and significant loss of quality of life.

The CLARITY trial, which ran from 2005 to 2009, was the largest ever trial of the drug Cladribine in people with relapsing MS, involving 1,326 patients. The results found that Cladribine was highly effective in controlling relapses, lesions in the brain and the progression of disability.

Cladribine also has advantages over other MS treatments in that it does not appear to be associated with severe adverse effects, including opportunistic infections and secondary autoimmune diseases.

For a number of reasons, including a perceived increase in cancer risk, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) rejected licence applications from the drug manufacturer, prompting a halt in commercial development of the drug in 2011. This was followed by the withdrawal of the drug from markets where it had been licensed (Russia and Australia) and ongoing trials were terminated.  Read on. 

Source University of California San Francisco:

Researchers at UC San Francisco have identified specific gut microbes associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) in human patients, and show that these microbes take part in regulating immune responses in mouse models of the disease.

The new findings – to be published during the week of Sept. 11, 2017, in the Online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) – suggest that gut microbes may play a role in the neurodegeneration that characterizes MS. The authors hope the finding will help scientists understand the origins of MS and potentially lead to treatments, such as dietary changes or drugs based on microbial byproducts, that could improve the course of the disease. Read on.

Source MS Trust:

Do you want to talk to your kids about MS but are not sure where to start? Our resources for children and young people can make those family conversations a little bit easier. As well as explaining such a complicated condition in simple terms (very useful for grown-ups too!), the books feature real life experiences of other parents and children.  You can read or order publications here.

“Alexa” is Amazon’s talking service that acts as a virtual personal assistant. According to tomsguide.com, as part of the company’s Echo speaker system, the voice-activated device can pick out music tracks for you, operate other electical devices, create to-do lists, and of course help you shop. MORE: Acorda launches interactive MS awareness facts for Alexa As part of Multiple Sclerosis […]

The post 12 Ways Amazon’s Alexa Can Help People With Multiple Sclerosisappeared first on Multiple Sclerosis News Today.

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