It’s cool to be kind! And for this year’s Random Acts of Kindness Day, we’re sharing some ideas to bring a little bit of sparkle.  If the upheaval of the last couple of years has taught us anything, it’s that we need to be kinder to each other. Not only does kindness make the world a better place, but studies have shown being kind to our fellow humans can increase our self-esteem, compassion and empathy, as well as improve our mood.  It can also help decrease the stress hormone cortisol and blood pressure.  So for Random Acts of Kindness Day 2022, we’ve put together a few ..read more

A new study from Iran suggests that eating a diet high in green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans and berries may lower the risk of getting multiple sclerosis (MS). The research team looked at whether the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet could be protective against MS. The MIND diet is inspired by the Mediterranean diet, and is combined with the DASH diet that can help manage high blood pressure. They interviewed 77 newly-diagnosed MS patients about their dietary habits, as well as 148 healthy controls. The researchers assigned each person a MIND score based ..read more

My name is Alison, and I am running the 2022 TCS London Marathon with my Husband Lee. I was not long ago diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting MS (RRMS) after suffering several symptoms that just didn’t add up to me. Once I’d received my diagnosis and got my head around the fact things may change for me at some stage, I decided whilst still in the position to do so there were several things I’d like to do, I’ve gone back to school and am training to be a counsellor, which is why MS-UK stood out to me as the helpline will be vital to many many people. I then decided along with the support of my h ..read more

Vumerity (diroximel fumarate) has been approved for use on the NHS for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Vumerity is taken orally as a tablet twice a day. It is as effective as Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) but doesn’t cause as many stomach problems. The two drugs are similar in that they are both converted in the body to monomethyl fumarate which reduces inflammation and helps protect nerve cells from MS damage. Vumerity reduced rates of relapse and the number of active lesions seen by MRI in clinical trials. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently review ..read more

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who stop taking Tysabri (natalizumab) during pregnancy have a significant risk of relapse-related disability, a new study has found. Researchers analysed data of 255 pregnant women from the German Multiple Sclerosis and Pregnancy Registry who stopped taking Tsabri. A year after the births of their babies, almost 11% had significant relapse-related disability. There were also commonly relapses during pregnancy and in the postpartum period – 183 women relapsed during pregnancy, with 44 women experiencing a severe relapse. One year postpartum, 29 women had sig ..read more

Last year, we launched our MS Awareness e-learning course for anyone who is working or supporting someone with multiple sclerosis (MS). The course aims to increase understanding and knowledge of this long-term health condition.  Today, we are launching a second module aimed at qualified counsellors who are or want to work with clients with MS. We know that for a lot of people with MS there are many barriers to accessing counselling which includes cost, transport, accessibility and symptoms. The other barrier is the counsellors understanding of MS and clients reported that they could spen ..read more

More than half of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are treated with self-injected disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) had no evidence of disease activity after two years, a new study has found. Turkish researchers wanted to determine the proportion of patients whose status was ‘ No Evidence of Disease Activity’, which is known as NEDA-3. To be NEDA-3, someone must have had no relapses, no worsening disability, and show no new brain inflammation when they are given an MRI scan. The researchers looked at the data from 1,032 people who were treated with self-injected therapies between 1996 ..read more

When HSCT dramatically improved Alison Coates’ husband’s MS symptoms, she launched a charity to help inform and support others in his position    My husband James was diagnosed with MS in 2011 and deteriorated rapidly. He went from being someone who was very active, playing five-a-side football every week and walking a lot, to being on the verge of needing a wheelchair. We were told he had secondary progressive MS and that there weren’t any drugs for him to try. He’d just turned 40 and we had two teenage children. It was pretty devastating. We tried a lot of holistic and complimenta ..read more

A new study has found that almost a third of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who get Covid-19 have symptoms lasting for at least a month. Researchers reviewed more than 550 cases of people infected with Covid-19 who have MS, none of whom needed hospitalisation. They found the rate at which longer lasting symptoms occurred in people with MS compared with the general population was higher than in some previous studies. They said this suggested people with MS may have a greater risk of long Covid, also known as post-acute sequelae. Greater disability, being female, and having poorer mental h ..read more

Those who eat meat may have a higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) than those who don’t, a new study has concluded. Researchers at the University of Connecticut looked at the diet, gut bacteria, immune systems and blood of 25 people with MS. A control group of 24 people without MS was used for comparison. The study found that those who ate meat had less bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a type if gut bacteria that helps digest vegetables. Also, people in the study that had MS consumed more meat than people without, which led the researchers to suggest there may be a connection. There ..read more