Guardian Focus podcast: Multiple sclerosis and the cost of being ill | World news | guardian.co.uk

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

Posted in Life, Symptoms, Treatments| Posted by Admin | Comments Off

MS activity may vary with seasons – The Chart – CNN.com Blogs

MS activity may vary with seasons – The Chart – CNN.com Blogs

In the spring and summer months, some people with multiple sclerosis are at a two to three times greater risk for disease activity, according to research published Monday in the journal Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study, led by Dominik Meier, Ph.D. of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, examined MRI screenings and other data taken from 1991 to 1993. This was before the availability of current traditional therapies to modify the course of the disease. 44 people aged 25 to 52 living in Boston participated in the study. They had MRIs weekly to monthly over the course of a year. The researchers also included weather information in their study. MRIs are the primary tools used to monitor the disease progress, as they show the scarring, also called lesions.

“Not only were more lesions found during the spring and summer seasons, our study also found that warmer temperatures and solar radiation were linked to disease activity,” said Meier.

Posted in Research, Symptoms| Posted by Admin | Comments Off