CBS Pittsburgh (con't) Affordable Care Act Updates: CBSPittsburgh.com/ACA Health News & Information: CBSPittsburgh.com/Health PITTSBURGH (KDKA) Theres a new treatment for MS patients whove tried everything and have yet to find something that works for them. Its not cheap, but it is providing new hope for patients who feel like theyve run out of options. Barbara Baird has had multiple sclerosis for 27 years. I walk with a walker, Ive walked with a cane, she said, Ive been in a wheelchair, Ive been in bed. So Ive had a lot of different symptoms. It used to be there were no medications to treat it. Over the past two decades, about a dozen medicines have come along. Shes tried them all to reduce inflammation and to soothe the immune system. Now a new medication, originally used for cancer, has been FDA approved for MS. Its called Lemtrada. Im hoping that this would be one that might work for me, said Baird. See more here: New MS Treatment Giving Hope To Patients … Continue reading →

DRUGS for heart disease, depression and motor neurone disease could be the key for a treatment for multiple sclerosis. A new drug trial based at Oxfords John Radcliffe Hospital will ask 440 MS sufferers to try the alternative therapies to see if they have any effect. Oxford is one of 14 trial sites across England and Scotland to participate in the MS-SMART trial. Researchers will test the safety and effectiveness of heart disease drug amiloride, fluoxetine which is used to treat depression, and motor neurone disease treatment riluzole over two years in 440 people with an advanced and untreatable progressive form of MS. All three drugs have shown the potential to protect nerves from damage, which could ultimately slow or stop the progression of disease. If it is successful, scientists will start developing drugs that they say could potentially revolutionise the way MS is treated. Witney MS victim Roger Keable, 67, sufferers from spasticity in his left leg, fatigue, depression and incontinence and said a treatment option would change his life. He said: There is nothing out there right now for people with secondary progressive MS, sometimes it can feel like were the forgotten end of the MS spectrum. Research … Continue reading →

By Joe Kay April 10 at 1:26 PM Lauren Hill spent her final year polishing a layup and inspiring others to live fully. She succeeded at both as she fought an inoperable brain tumor. The 19-year-old freshman basketball player at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati died April 10 at a Cincinnati hospital, the co-founder of her nonprofit foundation, Brooke Desserich, told the Associated Press. Ms. Hills nonprofit foundation helped to raise more than $1.5 million for cancer research. She not only became a spotlight on the lack of funding for cancer research, but she most certainly has become a beacon guiding researchers for years to come, Desserich said. A year and a half ago, Ms. Hill was just another high school student getting ready for college. She decided to play basketball at Mount St. Joseph, a Division III school. Soccer was her favorite sport, but basketball became her selling point. A few weeks later, she started experiencing dizziness while playing for her high school team in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Tests found the tumor. Treatment didnt work. She knew she had less than two years left. Im spreading awareness and also teaching people how to live in the moment because the … Continue reading →

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter Latest Infectious Disease News WEDNESDAY, April 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- An active ingredient in some psoriasis and multiple sclerosis medications has been linked to two cases of a rare and sometimes lethal brain infection. The ingredient, dimethyl fumarate, appears to have contributed to the deaths of two European women. The women contracted progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, according to two letters published in the April 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. One case involved a 54-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis. She died in October 2014 from complications related to PML and pneumonia, following 4.5 years of treatment with a time-delayed form of dimethyl fumarate carrying the brand name Tecfidera, researchers reported. The second case was a 64-year-old woman with psoriasis. She died in August 2014 from PML after being treated with a delayed-release dimethyl fumarate compound with the brand name Psorinovo for two years, according to the researchers. These cases follow reports linking other drugs containing dimethyl fumarate with PML, including Tysabri and Fumaderm, the researchers said. However, the latest case reports do not prove that dimethyl fumerate caused the PML infections. And outside experts said cases of PML occur rarely … Continue reading →