Should we expect your GP or family doctor to take on more of the day-2-day management of your MS? In the UK specialist physicians are called consultants because there was always too few of them to get their hands dirty with the day-to-day management of patients with special medical problems. General practitioners used to refer their patients to a specialist for a ‘consultation’ and...
Prof G why the sudden and recent fixation with inequality? There is overwhelming evidence that many health outcomes, including life expectancy, infant mortality, obesity, cancer survival rates, suicide, addiction and many more are linked to the level of economic inequality within society. In short, greater economic inequality leads to worse health outcomes. Inequality does not necessarily refer...
It is clear that many MSers on continuous anti-CD20 therapy are concerned about the risk of developing hypogammaglobulinaemia and subsequent infections. Yesterday, I spoke to several neurologists at the O’HAND investigators meeting in Barcelona who informed me that they are considering giving their ocrelizumab-treated patients hyperimmune globulin replacement therapy (HYPE-Ig-RT) when they...
I am very excited and proud to be attending and speaking at the first European Oratoria-HAND, or O’Hand, study investigator meeting in Barcelona. With Chariot-MS, the O’HAND study is the culmination of more than 4 years of work and campaigning for Barts-MS. However, our #ThinkHand campaign will only be considered a true success if we get a positive outcome from one of our studies and a DMT...
This post has been moved to Prof G’s Medium Account.
When I highlighted the risk of hypogammaglobulinaemia and infection in MSers receiving anti-CD20 therapy after ECTRIMS I go a very long email from someone from Roche playing down the risks. The following study is therefore very timely and shows that when comparing interferon-beta, glatiramer acetate, natalizumab, fingolimod and rituximab with each other it is rituximab that comes out worst in...
The last time I saw George Ebers was at the European Charcot Foundation meeting in Baveno in 2017. I sat next to him and we had a long chat about MS and his new life in Canada. George had lost his anger and was very content with life. I learnt about all his projects on his farm; his windmill restoration project, his fence building, on being a carpenter and the summer water sports on his lake. I...
The big hole in the EBV hypothesis of MS is how does the virus cause the disease at a molecular and immunological level. There are as many theories as thinkers. One theory is that EBV infects the CNS and MS is caused by an immune response to the virus in the brain of MSers. MS is then due to bystander damage of the immune cells finding and attacking the EBV infected cells. The evidence that EBV...
Is it MS or the menopause? “I am a woman with MS and have started going through the menopause. My last menstrual period was four months ago and have frequent hot flushes. All of a sudden my MS seems to have worsened. I am more fatigued, my sleep is disrupted, my bladder problems are worse, my mood is all over the place and my walking has deteriorated. Is this my MS or is simply the menopause? “...
When I posted the link to our EBV and MS meta-analysis on social media yesterday I was taken to task because of the slow progress we have made in MS prevention. Why has no preventative action been taken yet? What are they waiting for? I have had MS for more than 50 years and in all those decades the Epstein- Barr virus has been a usual suspect over and over and over again. Had glandular fever...