As with any elite athlete, Omphroy, a 21-year-old rookie defender with Toronto FC, has had to overcome challenges to get here. But his have been on a different scale — fears he was going blind at age 17 as he tried to crack the lineup of a professional soccer team in Portugal; enduring what felt like electric shocks through his body and the loss of feeling in one foot last year.
That second episode sent him from chiropractors to doctors to specialists. Their conclusion had an impact that goes well beyond the playing field.
Omphroy has multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and central nervous system and can have debilitating symptoms.
“I was shocked,” Omphroy recalls of the diagnosis, which came from a neurologist in February of last year following an MRI. “I was like: ‘I can’t believe I have a disease that has left people in wheelchairs.’
“Just the thought of that, of me having to be in a wheelchair sometime in my life, is scary. You hear about a friend of a friend who knows somebody who has it, but you never think it’s something that’s going to happen to you.”
Far from ending his dreams of playing professional soccer, Omphroy, a native of California’s San Francisco Bay area, firmly believes his disease has, in many ways, made him better.
His diet has improved dramatically, more greens and fish, no alcohol or caffeine. Each night, he injects Copaxone, a drug used to treat his form of the disease, and ensures that he gets enough sleep to train the next day.
More about TFC’s Demitrius Omphroy not letting multiple sclerosis slow him down – thestar.com
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Ray Miller didn’t let multiple sclerosis control his life. Instead, he fought back.
Diagnosed with the physically debilitating disease in 2003, the 32-year-old North Vancouver man has since completed five marathons, including the Ironman Canada competition — and he’s not about to stop. Miller is an avid runner, swimmer and biker who trains rigorously to keep the symptoms of his disease at bay, regularly sharing his progress on a personal blog, moresquirrel.blogspot.com.
“Most of the time, if you would ask me how I’m doing, I’m doing just fine,” he said.
More about An active approach
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Warm weather is known to aggravate multiple sclerosis, increasing the number of lesions that develop in the brain and spinal cord and leading to a flare-up of symptoms such as numbness and fatigue. But a new study shows that warm weather can also impair cognitive function.
The study, which will be presented in April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, examined 40 people with the disease and 40 healthy people. The researchers, from the Kessler Foundation in West Orange, N.J., found that people with multiple sclerosis scored 70% better on thinking tests during cooler days as compared with warmer days. There was no difference in test scores linked to weather conditions for healthy people.
More about Warm weather may worsen cognitive function in people with multiple sclerosis – latimes.com
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Elizabeth Kinder was diagnosed with MS three years ago. There is no cure for the disease, but a raft of trials provide hope for the 100,000 sufferers in the UK.
These are especially challenging times for sufferers of long-term degenerative diseases, in the face of cuts to research funding, huge changes to the way the NHS commissions services, and the biggest upheaval in the welfare system since 1945.
Trials are the best hope for sufferers, and Elizabeth was lucky to be accepted on a clinical trial at Charing Cross Hospital.
At Charing Cross she speaks to consultant neurologist Dr Richard Nicholas and Caroline D’Arcy, MS nurse at the hospital. She finds out why the unpredictability of MS makes sufferers especially vulnerable to benefits changes, and why the changes to NHS commissioning could make getting the right care more difficult.
She speaks to Jane Spink, director of policy and research at the MS Society, who reveals her concerns for MS research within the NHS.
And she talks to Alasdair Fraser about his experience of living with MS. He warns: “You just can’t afford to get ill from now on.”
Alasdair was diagnosed 16 years ago, when he was a 35-year-old advertising executive. He now uses a wheelchair, is unable to move his limbs, and his eyesight is deteriorating
More about Guardian Focus podcast: Multiple sclerosis and the cost of being ill | World news | guardian.co.uk
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Aaron Thompson has loved sports since he was in high school. Then, he was a keen basketball player. As a young adult, he continued to enjoy an athletic lifestyle, working out daily even after being diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a disease of the central nervous system, when he was 23.
RRMS is characterized by clearly defined attacks followed by periods of partial or complete recovery.
“I was an energetic guy who happened to have multiple sclerosis,” Thompson says.
More about Staying positive while coping with MS
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By (author) Professor George Jelinek
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Talking about MS sufferers more likely to lose jobs – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
New research shows people with multiple sclerosis are more likely to lose their job than people with other chronic illnesses.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Week is focussing on the employment prospects of people who are diagnosed with MS.
MS Tasmania says a national study between 2003 and 2007, and published in the Journal of Neurology, shows 56 per cent of people with the condition had lost their jobs, while 64 per cent were no longer in the paid workforce.
MS Tasmania’s Heather Francis has urged employers to consider flexibility and understanding when it comes to possibly letting staff go, who are diagnosed with MS.
“Tasmania has by far the strongest prevalence of MS than any other Australian state,” she said.
Ms Francis says ‘switched on’ employers are making simple workplace changes, especially in times of skills shortages, to keep their good staff.
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Talking about Survey Reveals Economic Toll of MS
All over the world, of the people who quit working due to multiple sclerosis (MS), almost half did so within three years of being diagnosed with the debilitating disease, a new survey shows.
The Multiple Sclerosis International Federation surveyed people with MS in 125 countries.
The organization says in a news release that its report highlights the importance of allowing people with MS to work flexible hours so they can stay on the job.
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