The food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved AmpyraT (formerly known as fampridine SR, from Acorda Therapeutics) as a symptomatic treatment to improve walking for people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There are many reputable websites where there is information to research AmpyraT as a treatment for MS.
For the full article click here.
Multiple Sclerosis - Google News
Achieve with a Disability - Google News
Active Seniors - Google News
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
How to Research Use of Cladribine for Multiple Sclerosis
Cladribine is an oral chemotherapy medication that has been used to treat hairy cell leukemia. This potential MS treatment drug has been the center of clinical studies for the treatment of relapsing progressive Multiple Sclerosis. There are several respectable sources to find out more information about the studies and the use of Cladribine for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.
For the full story click here.
For the full story click here.
Oral multiple sclerosis drug shows promise
January 20, 2010 | 2:00 pm
A large study on a new oral medication for multiple sclerosis has yielded promising results both in terms of how well the drug works and its safety, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
MS
The drug, Cladribine, is an existing chemotherapy medication that is used to treat hairy cell leukemia. It
would be the first tablet medication for MS and would only need to be taken for eight or 10 days a year. Currently, MS drug treatments include injections and intravenous infusions. The disease is a neurological condition that often beings in young adulthood and can lead to problems with muscle control, vision, hearing and memory.
The new study included 1,300 MS patients who were followed for nearly two years and had regular MRI scans to assess the progression of the disease. Patients were given either a short treatment of Cladribine or a placebo. Compared to the patients taking the placebo, patients on the medication were 55% less likely to have a relapse and 30% less likely to have a worsening of disability. The study was performed at Queen Mary, University of London.
The drug company MD Serono, an affiliate of Merck, has requested approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market the tablet. However it recently received a "refuse to file" letter from the FDA, which means the agency is requiring additional information or data. MD Serono said it is pursuing the matter with the FDA and hopes to re-submit its application.
The drug is of wide interest, note officials from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Cladribine "would represent a major treatment breakthrough -- hopefully the first of many successful oral therapies in the pipeline," Dr. John R. Richert, executive vice president of research and clinical programs for the National MS Society, said in a statement.
-- Shari Roan
A large study on a new oral medication for multiple sclerosis has yielded promising results both in terms of how well the drug works and its safety, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
MS
The drug, Cladribine, is an existing chemotherapy medication that is used to treat hairy cell leukemia. It
would be the first tablet medication for MS and would only need to be taken for eight or 10 days a year. Currently, MS drug treatments include injections and intravenous infusions. The disease is a neurological condition that often beings in young adulthood and can lead to problems with muscle control, vision, hearing and memory.
The new study included 1,300 MS patients who were followed for nearly two years and had regular MRI scans to assess the progression of the disease. Patients were given either a short treatment of Cladribine or a placebo. Compared to the patients taking the placebo, patients on the medication were 55% less likely to have a relapse and 30% less likely to have a worsening of disability. The study was performed at Queen Mary, University of London.
The drug company MD Serono, an affiliate of Merck, has requested approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market the tablet. However it recently received a "refuse to file" letter from the FDA, which means the agency is requiring additional information or data. MD Serono said it is pursuing the matter with the FDA and hopes to re-submit its application.
The drug is of wide interest, note officials from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Cladribine "would represent a major treatment breakthrough -- hopefully the first of many successful oral therapies in the pipeline," Dr. John R. Richert, executive vice president of research and clinical programs for the National MS Society, said in a statement.
-- Shari Roan
Sunday, November 9, 2008
What Does Your Partner Find Sexy About YourDisability?
By Mitchell Tepper, Ph.D., M.P.H.
HSAB Affiliation: Managing Director.
This time I asked the question! I posed this to disability-focused lists and forums: What do our partners find sexy about our disabilities?
The question was an attempt to focus on sexy as a normal part of the disability experience and relationships. It seemed to me that we were getting to the point where we could not talk about being sexy without the D word popping up. Anyone who gets involved with someone who has a disability becomes suspect and is assumed a devotee. This does an injustice to all parties. The person attracted to someone with a disability automatically gets labeled as having a fetish and his or her motives are called into question. The partner with the disability is assumed unattractive, suggesting one must be unbalanced to be attracted to us. And the person who is actually sexually oriented to some aspect of a disability - whether it be a brace or a stump or a leg bag - is automatically assumed to be deviant in all aspects of his or her sexual relationships. Sexual relationships and sexual orientations are much more complex than this.
Just because someone finds something sexy or attractive about a various aspect of a disability, say a scar for example, doesn’t make him or her a devo or a deviate. I would not characterize my wife as a devo yet there are things she finds sexy about me related to my disability.
For example, there’s an indent in my hip where they took bone out for an anterior fusion in my neck, and my wife likes to feel it. I also have a wide scar on my abdomen from some surgery. It’s very smooth and she traces it with her finger. My fingers are contracted and when we were first courting she used to almost unconsciously stretch them out and massage them as we talked. Sexy doesn’t have to be just physical. It could be the way you relate. I could go on, but others have their own perspectives to add to the mix.
As expected when doing research on sexuality and disability, some people thought the question was provocative, others perverse, and still others, plain perverted. As I explained to some, the actual question really just serves as a bridge into discussions around this topic. People will interpret and react to it from their own perspective. The responses are important as they add richness to the various dimensions of our relationships.
Love is Blind
Quadlover said he has often wondered about this question and suggested maybe it is true that love is blind. For many it was. They didn’t see the disability, only the person. L&k says "My babe is 6 months new to a C5-C6 SCI, incomplete injury. I find her extremely sexy. I always have and I always will. She is the same person to me, inside and out, as before her injury. Though she can’t walk, we continue to do things together, spend time, etc. as before. That’s what really counts."
Annonymous notes, "I didn’t know the person I love before [the disability], but I have seen pictures. They are just as sexy to me now as they are in those pictures...more so maybe because of the special person they are inside and out. And gorgeous - gorgeous indeed!"
Darlene, who has cerebral palsy, asked her able-bodied partner, who replied, "Who said I found anything about your disability sexy? How about you send something in that says I find YOU sexy notwithstanding your disability."
Scooter said, "The bottom line is women aren’t attracted to me because of my chair, but because of the man sitting in it." Keith asked his spouse what she found sexy or exciting about his disability and she simply stated, "The guy that comes with the disability." "Go figure," he says.
The Whole Package
Ingrid was inspired to ask her partner, Robert, of 18 years what he finds sexy about her. He said it was "the whole package," particularly her enthusiasm, her sense of fun, her hugs, her body weight and her body color. She then asked him the opposite question: does he find anything unsexy about her disability. She thought he might mention the fact that he has to position her, but all he said was that sometimes he felt pain during intercourse because her pelvis is tilted as her hips are inverted due to cerebral palsy. Ingrid guesses that they just love each other.
Nicko was afraid this might be a very short article as sexy is not a word she connects with her disability. Her husband thought she was sexy before her accident, and he still finds her sexy. She thinks it is despite her disability, not because of it. She writes, "I think he admires my mind and spirit, because of the way I deal with problems and keep a big smile on my face. But I think he’d like the ’old bod’ back as much as I would."
Attitude is Everything
Veranda notes, "My partner says what makes me sexy is the way that I carry myself. I still wear cute and sexy clothes, faithfully go get my nails done, and every three months I get my hair colored or touched up with highlights because I believe I have no limits. And he also says [he likes] the way I still want to have a sexual relationship even though I’m in a chair. I also have a scar on my leg that he always rubs and says is sexy. To paraphrase a bit from Forest Gump, I think sexy is what sexy does."
From Greg, "My spouse likes my availability. I have MS and I get to stay home a lot. I conserve what energy I do have for spending time with my lover."
Scars
Many people related to my example of a scar. Maybe as Scooter noted it is because every scar tells a story about us. Angus has noticed that when girls rub the scar on the back of his neck their eyes light up. "Chicks dig scars!" he says.
Guys do too. Chipper wrote that her husband really likes her strong arms and the scars on her back from all the spine surgery she has had. "I find that he traces the scars on my back when he is tense and when he is aroused."
Erica was quite excited about the scar thing also: "Actually a lot of the guys I dated LOVED this scar I have on my belly right above my belly button from where they opened me up to check for any internal bleeding...They thought the scar was sexy as hell...I used to be so self conscious about my scars and now I like them."
Muscles
Mishapie shared that her boyfriend with a T4 injury from eight years ago has the most beautiful arms and shoulders she has ever seen or felt. "He doesn’t understand why I’m so turned on when he flexes his arm in my hand...and now I’m comfortable enough to not be self-conscious when I touch him where he can’t feel...He’s so beautiful to me, all over."
"It’s All Bad"
There were a few out there who could see nothing sexy about disability. One person noted that there were non-disability related things about him that his wife liked, but there were no physical, mental or emotional traits brought on by his disability that she likes (or that he liked, for that matter). "It’s all bad," he said.
While we cannot do much to change the physical, I have to believe there is hope to improve the mental and emotional outlook. Our choice of our outlook on life is one thing that is within our control, and sexy is in the eye of the beholder.
For those who have questioned how anyone can find them attractive with a disability, here is your answer! Partners do find us - including things about our disability - sexy! Disabled does not equal unattractive and disability has the potential to bring out some admirable qualities. Sometimes we don’t believe it when our own partner says we are still sexy because we may feel so different from people without disabilities or from ourselves, in the case of an acquired disability. I think it is affirming for everyone to hear partners’ perspectives.
Having a disability does not mean that you do not enjoy a sexual experience anymore.
Click here for more ideas of how to love yourself.
HSAB Affiliation: Managing Director.
This time I asked the question! I posed this to disability-focused lists and forums: What do our partners find sexy about our disabilities?
The question was an attempt to focus on sexy as a normal part of the disability experience and relationships. It seemed to me that we were getting to the point where we could not talk about being sexy without the D word popping up. Anyone who gets involved with someone who has a disability becomes suspect and is assumed a devotee. This does an injustice to all parties. The person attracted to someone with a disability automatically gets labeled as having a fetish and his or her motives are called into question. The partner with the disability is assumed unattractive, suggesting one must be unbalanced to be attracted to us. And the person who is actually sexually oriented to some aspect of a disability - whether it be a brace or a stump or a leg bag - is automatically assumed to be deviant in all aspects of his or her sexual relationships. Sexual relationships and sexual orientations are much more complex than this.
Just because someone finds something sexy or attractive about a various aspect of a disability, say a scar for example, doesn’t make him or her a devo or a deviate. I would not characterize my wife as a devo yet there are things she finds sexy about me related to my disability.
For example, there’s an indent in my hip where they took bone out for an anterior fusion in my neck, and my wife likes to feel it. I also have a wide scar on my abdomen from some surgery. It’s very smooth and she traces it with her finger. My fingers are contracted and when we were first courting she used to almost unconsciously stretch them out and massage them as we talked. Sexy doesn’t have to be just physical. It could be the way you relate. I could go on, but others have their own perspectives to add to the mix.
As expected when doing research on sexuality and disability, some people thought the question was provocative, others perverse, and still others, plain perverted. As I explained to some, the actual question really just serves as a bridge into discussions around this topic. People will interpret and react to it from their own perspective. The responses are important as they add richness to the various dimensions of our relationships.
Love is Blind
Quadlover said he has often wondered about this question and suggested maybe it is true that love is blind. For many it was. They didn’t see the disability, only the person. L&k says "My babe is 6 months new to a C5-C6 SCI, incomplete injury. I find her extremely sexy. I always have and I always will. She is the same person to me, inside and out, as before her injury. Though she can’t walk, we continue to do things together, spend time, etc. as before. That’s what really counts."
Annonymous notes, "I didn’t know the person I love before [the disability], but I have seen pictures. They are just as sexy to me now as they are in those pictures...more so maybe because of the special person they are inside and out. And gorgeous - gorgeous indeed!"
Darlene, who has cerebral palsy, asked her able-bodied partner, who replied, "Who said I found anything about your disability sexy? How about you send something in that says I find YOU sexy notwithstanding your disability."
Scooter said, "The bottom line is women aren’t attracted to me because of my chair, but because of the man sitting in it." Keith asked his spouse what she found sexy or exciting about his disability and she simply stated, "The guy that comes with the disability." "Go figure," he says.
The Whole Package
Ingrid was inspired to ask her partner, Robert, of 18 years what he finds sexy about her. He said it was "the whole package," particularly her enthusiasm, her sense of fun, her hugs, her body weight and her body color. She then asked him the opposite question: does he find anything unsexy about her disability. She thought he might mention the fact that he has to position her, but all he said was that sometimes he felt pain during intercourse because her pelvis is tilted as her hips are inverted due to cerebral palsy. Ingrid guesses that they just love each other.
Nicko was afraid this might be a very short article as sexy is not a word she connects with her disability. Her husband thought she was sexy before her accident, and he still finds her sexy. She thinks it is despite her disability, not because of it. She writes, "I think he admires my mind and spirit, because of the way I deal with problems and keep a big smile on my face. But I think he’d like the ’old bod’ back as much as I would."
Attitude is Everything
Veranda notes, "My partner says what makes me sexy is the way that I carry myself. I still wear cute and sexy clothes, faithfully go get my nails done, and every three months I get my hair colored or touched up with highlights because I believe I have no limits. And he also says [he likes] the way I still want to have a sexual relationship even though I’m in a chair. I also have a scar on my leg that he always rubs and says is sexy. To paraphrase a bit from Forest Gump, I think sexy is what sexy does."
From Greg, "My spouse likes my availability. I have MS and I get to stay home a lot. I conserve what energy I do have for spending time with my lover."
Scars
Many people related to my example of a scar. Maybe as Scooter noted it is because every scar tells a story about us. Angus has noticed that when girls rub the scar on the back of his neck their eyes light up. "Chicks dig scars!" he says.
Guys do too. Chipper wrote that her husband really likes her strong arms and the scars on her back from all the spine surgery she has had. "I find that he traces the scars on my back when he is tense and when he is aroused."
Erica was quite excited about the scar thing also: "Actually a lot of the guys I dated LOVED this scar I have on my belly right above my belly button from where they opened me up to check for any internal bleeding...They thought the scar was sexy as hell...I used to be so self conscious about my scars and now I like them."
Muscles
Mishapie shared that her boyfriend with a T4 injury from eight years ago has the most beautiful arms and shoulders she has ever seen or felt. "He doesn’t understand why I’m so turned on when he flexes his arm in my hand...and now I’m comfortable enough to not be self-conscious when I touch him where he can’t feel...He’s so beautiful to me, all over."
"It’s All Bad"
There were a few out there who could see nothing sexy about disability. One person noted that there were non-disability related things about him that his wife liked, but there were no physical, mental or emotional traits brought on by his disability that she likes (or that he liked, for that matter). "It’s all bad," he said.
While we cannot do much to change the physical, I have to believe there is hope to improve the mental and emotional outlook. Our choice of our outlook on life is one thing that is within our control, and sexy is in the eye of the beholder.
For those who have questioned how anyone can find them attractive with a disability, here is your answer! Partners do find us - including things about our disability - sexy! Disabled does not equal unattractive and disability has the potential to bring out some admirable qualities. Sometimes we don’t believe it when our own partner says we are still sexy because we may feel so different from people without disabilities or from ourselves, in the case of an acquired disability. I think it is affirming for everyone to hear partners’ perspectives.
Having a disability does not mean that you do not enjoy a sexual experience anymore.
Click here for more ideas of how to love yourself.
Monday, September 22, 2008
More Patients With Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis Are Disease-Free With Natalizumab:
More Patients With Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis Are Disease-Free With Natalizumab: Presented at WCTRMS
By Danny Kucharsky
MONTREAL -- September 21, 2008 -- Natalizumab significantly increases the proportion of disease-free patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with placebo over 2 years, according to study results presented here at the World Congress on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (WCTRMS).
The study, led by Eva Havrdova, MD, General Teaching Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic, evaluated the effects of natalizumab on the proportion of MS patients who were disease free as measured by clinical and magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) outcomes in the phase 3 Natalizumab Safety and Efficacy in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (AFFIRM) study.
The study randomised 627 patients to receive intravenous natalizumab 300 mg and 315 patients to placebo once every 4 weeks for up to 116 weeks.
The post hoc analyses, presented on September 18 by Dr. Havrdova and colleagues, found the proportion of disease-free patients was significantly higher in the natalizumab group compared with the placebo group.
Criteria for clinical disease-free status were no relapse and no disability progression for 12 weeks, free of MRI disease activity, no gadolinium-enhancing (Gd+) lesions, and no new or enlarging T2-hyperintense lesions.
Based on clinical outcomes, 70.6% of natalizumab patients had no relapse over 2 years compared with 43.3% of the placebo group. Progression-free status was achieved in 83.6% of natalizumab and 71.7% of placebo patients, and 64.3% of natalizumab and 38.9% of placebo patients were clinically disease-free (P < .0001, for all outcomes).
Natalizumab monotherapy significantly increased the proportion of patients with no Gd+ lesions (94.9% natalizumab vs 56.6% placebo), the proportion with no new or enlarging T2 lesions (58.3% vs 14.9%), and the proportion of patients with no MRI lesion activity (57.7% vs 14.2%) over 2 years compared with placebo (P < .0001, for all outcomes).
The proportion of patients who were free of clinical and MRI disease activity was significantly greater with natalizumab than placebo over 2 years (36.7% vs 7.2%, P < .0001).
Dr. Havrdova said the disease-free concept has not been well considered by the MS community, but should be discussed "because this goal is potentially within reach as more effective therapies are introduced."
Funding for this study was provided by Biogen Idec, Inc. and Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[Presentation title: Natalizumab Increases the Proportion of Disease-Free Patients in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis. Abstract P62]
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF6852574CB007AFCDE
By Danny Kucharsky
MONTREAL -- September 21, 2008 -- Natalizumab significantly increases the proportion of disease-free patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with placebo over 2 years, according to study results presented here at the World Congress on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (WCTRMS).
The study, led by Eva Havrdova, MD, General Teaching Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic, evaluated the effects of natalizumab on the proportion of MS patients who were disease free as measured by clinical and magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) outcomes in the phase 3 Natalizumab Safety and Efficacy in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (AFFIRM) study.
The study randomised 627 patients to receive intravenous natalizumab 300 mg and 315 patients to placebo once every 4 weeks for up to 116 weeks.
The post hoc analyses, presented on September 18 by Dr. Havrdova and colleagues, found the proportion of disease-free patients was significantly higher in the natalizumab group compared with the placebo group.
Criteria for clinical disease-free status were no relapse and no disability progression for 12 weeks, free of MRI disease activity, no gadolinium-enhancing (Gd+) lesions, and no new or enlarging T2-hyperintense lesions.
Based on clinical outcomes, 70.6% of natalizumab patients had no relapse over 2 years compared with 43.3% of the placebo group. Progression-free status was achieved in 83.6% of natalizumab and 71.7% of placebo patients, and 64.3% of natalizumab and 38.9% of placebo patients were clinically disease-free (P < .0001, for all outcomes).
Natalizumab monotherapy significantly increased the proportion of patients with no Gd+ lesions (94.9% natalizumab vs 56.6% placebo), the proportion with no new or enlarging T2 lesions (58.3% vs 14.9%), and the proportion of patients with no MRI lesion activity (57.7% vs 14.2%) over 2 years compared with placebo (P < .0001, for all outcomes).
The proportion of patients who were free of clinical and MRI disease activity was significantly greater with natalizumab than placebo over 2 years (36.7% vs 7.2%, P < .0001).
Dr. Havrdova said the disease-free concept has not been well considered by the MS community, but should be discussed "because this goal is potentially within reach as more effective therapies are introduced."
Funding for this study was provided by Biogen Idec, Inc. and Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[Presentation title: Natalizumab Increases the Proportion of Disease-Free Patients in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis. Abstract P62]
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF6852574CB007AFCDE
Monday, June 16, 2008
MS Can't Stop Bodybuilder
MS can't stop bodybuilder
Aiming for berth at world championships
By KIRK PENTON
Felstead, who suffers from MS, will compete in his third Canadian Bodybuilding Federation world qualifier. BRIAN DONOGH/SUN MEDIA
When you look at that picture of bodybuilder Brent Felstead, one of the last things that would pop into your mind is multiple sclerosis.
He's ripped. He's athletic. He's healthy.
He has MS.
"That's partly why I don't mind sharing the story," the 42-year-old Ottawa native said yesterday. "Hopefully other people get the hint. There's lots of people out there who come to me and say, 'Once I got diagnosed I basically gave up on everything.' That does not have to be the case. I haven't given up anything."
He certainly has not. In fact, he will compete in his third Canadian Bodybuilding Federation world qualifier tomorrow at Winnipeg's Prairie Exchange Theatre. The top finisher in each weight class will earn a berth in the world championships in Bahrain this November.
If Felstead can win his division tomorrow, it would cap a remarkable comeback that started the day he was diagnosed: Oct. 29, 1999.
"That was probably the scariest portion of my life," he said. "At that time I was almost completely paralysed in my right leg. I was partially blind in my left eye, and I lost almost all the feeling through my torso."
Felstead, who started bodybuilding in 1995, stopped training for only two weeks after being diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS, which is the most common form of the disease. Between 2000 and 2003 he had one or two attacks a year, but they would sometimes last for months and often wiped away the muscle in the affected areas of his body.
To make sure his recovery from an attack was consistent, he would, for instance, work out his afflicted right leg as much as he could and then do the same number of reps with his healthy left.
The attacks, however, started striking with more frequency in 2004. In addition, his job with the Department of National Defence became more hectic. He had less time to work out, and it was taking a toll on his body.
"Basically I was losing ground," he said. "I was down to 160 pounds and was not nearly as muscular as I had been."
Then, in 2006, he made a decision that changed everything. He switched medication, injecting himself with Rebif three times a week, and hasn't suffered an attack since. So instead of having to constantly rebuild his muscles, he's been able to shape them for competitions like tomorrow's national championship.
More importantly, it's kept him in tremendous shape while battling a disease that can be debilitating if you allow it.
"By constantly challenging myself, by making myself do these competitions, I'm constantly making it essential for me to keep up that level of training," he said.
The physical effects Felstead experiences these days are a slight limp, and constant pain and numbness in his left hand. When his opponents see him limp, they ask him how he hurt himself training. Their initial reaction is disbelief when he tells them the truth.
To Felstead, it's just his life. He has a full-time job, two kids and a passion for bodybuilding.
"I don't allow it to limit me," he said. "That's always been my goal since diagnosis, to make sure that it interferes with your life as little as possible.
"I've done all right, and a lot of it is thanks to not giving up and keeping at it."
Aiming for berth at world championships
By KIRK PENTON
Felstead, who suffers from MS, will compete in his third Canadian Bodybuilding Federation world qualifier. BRIAN DONOGH/SUN MEDIA
When you look at that picture of bodybuilder Brent Felstead, one of the last things that would pop into your mind is multiple sclerosis.
He's ripped. He's athletic. He's healthy.
He has MS.
"That's partly why I don't mind sharing the story," the 42-year-old Ottawa native said yesterday. "Hopefully other people get the hint. There's lots of people out there who come to me and say, 'Once I got diagnosed I basically gave up on everything.' That does not have to be the case. I haven't given up anything."
He certainly has not. In fact, he will compete in his third Canadian Bodybuilding Federation world qualifier tomorrow at Winnipeg's Prairie Exchange Theatre. The top finisher in each weight class will earn a berth in the world championships in Bahrain this November.
If Felstead can win his division tomorrow, it would cap a remarkable comeback that started the day he was diagnosed: Oct. 29, 1999.
"That was probably the scariest portion of my life," he said. "At that time I was almost completely paralysed in my right leg. I was partially blind in my left eye, and I lost almost all the feeling through my torso."
Felstead, who started bodybuilding in 1995, stopped training for only two weeks after being diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS, which is the most common form of the disease. Between 2000 and 2003 he had one or two attacks a year, but they would sometimes last for months and often wiped away the muscle in the affected areas of his body.
To make sure his recovery from an attack was consistent, he would, for instance, work out his afflicted right leg as much as he could and then do the same number of reps with his healthy left.
The attacks, however, started striking with more frequency in 2004. In addition, his job with the Department of National Defence became more hectic. He had less time to work out, and it was taking a toll on his body.
"Basically I was losing ground," he said. "I was down to 160 pounds and was not nearly as muscular as I had been."
Then, in 2006, he made a decision that changed everything. He switched medication, injecting himself with Rebif three times a week, and hasn't suffered an attack since. So instead of having to constantly rebuild his muscles, he's been able to shape them for competitions like tomorrow's national championship.
More importantly, it's kept him in tremendous shape while battling a disease that can be debilitating if you allow it.
"By constantly challenging myself, by making myself do these competitions, I'm constantly making it essential for me to keep up that level of training," he said.
The physical effects Felstead experiences these days are a slight limp, and constant pain and numbness in his left hand. When his opponents see him limp, they ask him how he hurt himself training. Their initial reaction is disbelief when he tells them the truth.
To Felstead, it's just his life. He has a full-time job, two kids and a passion for bodybuilding.
"I don't allow it to limit me," he said. "That's always been my goal since diagnosis, to make sure that it interferes with your life as little as possible.
"I've done all right, and a lot of it is thanks to not giving up and keeping at it."
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Eye Test Peers Into Heat Related MS Symptoms
Eye Test Peers Into Heat-related Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms
ScienceDaily (Mar. 23, 2008) — A bodysuit that heats or cools a patient, combined with painless measurements of eye movements, is providing multiple sclerosis researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center with a new tool to study the mysterious link between body temperature and severity of MS symptoms.
ScienceDaily (Mar. 23, 2008) — A bodysuit that heats or cools a patient, combined with painless measurements of eye movements, is providing multiple sclerosis researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center with a new tool to study the mysterious link between body temperature and severity of MS symptoms.
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