Now that you finally have a name -- multiple sclerosis -- to match the symptoms that have been plaguing you, you've probably got a lot of questions about how to treat those symptoms and keep your condition from getting worse. Although researchers haven't yet discovered a cure for MS, there are many effective medications to help manage your disease. Your doctor will work closely with you to find the treatment that works best for you while causing the fewest side effects. Here is a rundown of your MS treatment options. If you have active relapsing-remitting MS, your doctor will first treat you with one of the disease-modifying drugs. They're called disease-modifying drugs because they can actually slow down the progression of MS and prevent relapses to keep you active for longer. These drugs work by suppressing the immune system so that it doesn't attack the protective coating (myelin) surrounding the nerves. Disease-modifying drugs that reduce the number of flares include: Disease-modifying drugs that have been shown to reduce flares and slow progression of MS include: Both the interferon drugs and Copaxone are considered to be very safe. Most of the side effects that do occur stem from the injection itself, … Continue reading →

Kessler Foundation researchers have found that among persons with multiple sclerosis, self-generation may be influenced by variables such as task meaningfulness during learning and memory. They also found that type of task (functional versus laboratory) had a significant effect on memory. This is the first controlled investigation of therapeutic and patient-specific factors that supports the inclusion of self-generation in cognitive rehabilitation. The study was published in the January issue of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation: An International Journal. Yael Goverover, PhD, OT, is a Visiting Scientist at Kessler Foundation. She is an associate professor at New York University. Dr. Goverover is a recipient of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research Fellowship award (Mary Switzer Award). The researchers studied two groups: 35 persons with MS who had moderate to severe learning and memory impairments (SEVERE-MS), and 35 persons with little to no impairment (MILD-MS). All the participants learned two types of tasks (functional everyday tasks and laboratory tasks), each in two learning conditions (Provided and Generated). Participants were required to recall the information immediately, 30 minutes, and 1 week following initial learning. Significantly more words were recalled from the generated condition, a finding that was consistent for both SEVERE-MS and MILD-MS. Also, … Continue reading →