caution larry

Hi, I’m Kim! This site provides a little insight to my journey of being diagnosised with Remitting Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis on October 26th 2004. I review books and documentaries, post MS-related news, and share my photos.

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Wednesday, August 16, 2006
August 2006 Archive
 
Vaccination against tetanus may offer protection
2006-08-06 10:01:17

Tetanus
jab may curb multiple sclerosis risk | Health | Reuters.co.uk
Interesting
study about those who have had the Tetanus vaccine. Have you had it? " They
found that a history of having been immunized against tetanus was associated
with a 33 percent decrease in risk of MS. The biologic mechanism by which the
tetanus vaccination may protect against MS is unclear, according to the authors.
They note, however, that vaccination with tetanus toxoid may shift the T helper
cell immune response from a proinflammatory Th1 response to an anti-inflammatory
Th2 response. Immunizing with the tetanus toxoid "could be a promising approach
for the treatment and prevention of MS and other Th1 cell mediated autoimmune
disorders," the clinicians charge."

Bear Season 2006 continues - August 3

2006-08-06 12:14:54


This is this afternoons vistor. This is about 3 feet from our back deck and
maybe 15 feet from our living room window. He's a chicken though. Runs at the
sound of keys being rattled.


Help make us the #1 health podcast!

2006-08-06 16:14:48


Please take just a moment right now to vote for this podcast on PodcastAlley.com. Thanks!


 


Montel Williams show on MS today

2006-08-07 09:35:17


For anyone that can view this show, my PVR picked it up this morning and so
far it's about the many faces of MS. So they are profiling different people
from a young girl to a lawyer and the woman that was on Extreme
Makeover
. Good show to watch for people who don't know what MS is thats
for sure.

Let the genetic news keep on coming

2006-08-07 20:44:46

I'm sure we'll all be seeing more and more of this type of news involving
genetics as they map more and more of MS related "things". Here's
an article
where they are finding protiens that can be blocked might alleviate
symptoms. "The study suggests that blocking the
proteins that regulate the signal might be an efficient strategy for new therapies
against MS for which there is currently no known definitive cure.
Italian
and German scientists focused their efforts on a key player in the molecular
mechanisms behind MS - a signalling molecule called NF-kB.

To get a clear picture of NF-kB's role in MS, Manolis Pasparakis, a former Group
Leader at EMBL's Mouse Biology Unit and his scientific collaborators at the
University of Göttingen investigated what happens to mice with an MS-like condition
if the action of NF-kB is blocked. To shut down the signal they inactivated
IKK2
and NEMO, two proteins that activate NF-kB. "We
have known for a long time that NF-kB is crucially involved in MS,"
said
Pasparakis, a former Group Leader at EMBL's Mouse Biology Unit who now works
as a Professor at the Institute for Genetics at the University of Cologne, "but
until now it was not clear if it was friend or foe.”
“We
were not sure whether it protects the brain cells against the consequences of
the disease or actually aggravates the damage."
The results were mice that
showed much milder MS symptoms than normal, an effect that is very likely to
be linked to the lower amount of inflammatory messengers produced by their brain
cells. "This was quite a challenge because NF-kB is involved in many crucial
processes throughout the entire body, and shutting down its activation in all
cells kills the mouse before it is born,"
says Pasparakis, "To observe
the effect of NF-kB in MS, we used sophisticated genetic techniques to generate
mice that do not express IKK2 and NEMO in brain cells only."

My PVR is wrecking my reality

2006-08-08 20:54:35

I was sitting in the living room tonight watching TV, knitting and relaxing
while listening to the rain (finally) fall. I glanced over to some comotion
on the 6 foot tree-like kitty scratching post to see queen Echo on the very
top (branch) and the newer little one Smudge getting swatted at as well as her
sister Savoy. I kinda came in late on the action though. I seriously sat there
for a moment and cursed... If the PVR was running I could just rewind and watch
the funny kitten chaos! And then I realized that my PVR really is ruining me!
You can't rewind reality! You have to live in the moment! Still, I won't return
our PVR. It's way too lovely fast forwarding through commercials :)

Summer colds are just cruel

2006-08-14 13:02:11

What is with getting a true head cold in the middle of summer!? Jeesh. This
is day 4 and I've now wasted all my days off this week sleeping and lying around.
My nose stopped running like a faucet today at least. Small steps right? Just
in time to go back to work tomorrow!

Trying to catch up!

2006-08-27 09:52:10

Wow, am I ever behind! I'm hoping to catch up on all the news releases I'm
seeing in my inbox and update later today. First on the agenda - wash my car!
It's much too nice a new car for me to not wash it ;) Second on my agenda -
laundry. Oh and then I'd like to sweep the driveway. We'll see how hot it gets
before that job can happen :)

Exercise shown to improve cardiovascular function, increase strength, endurance,
and reduce fatigue


2006-08-27 18:40:39

Entrez
PubMed
This article is a small sampling (sadly), but regardless shows that
we shouldn't all be sitting on our asses ;) "Exercise for individuals with multiple
sclerosis (MS) has been shown to improve cardiovascular function, increase strength
and endurance, and reduce fatigue. The impact of exercise on immune function
in the disease, however, remains mostly unexplored. Ten female MS patients participated
in an 8 week programme of twice-weekly progressive resistance training, with
pre- and post-training assessment of serum concentrations of cytokines IL-2,
IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, CRP, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma. After training, IL-4, IL-10,
CRP and IFN-gamma showed statistically reduced resting concentrations in blood,
while TNF-alpha showed non-significant reductions and IL-2 and IL-6 remained
unchanged. These results suggest that progressive resistance training may have
an impact on cytokine concentrations in individuals with MS and should be confirmed
in studies with stronger statistical power."

Benign RRMS really does exist!

2006-08-27 18:44:53

Have a looksee at this article.
I'd like to be in that Benign category. Perhaps I'll ask my Neurologist next
november at my yearly appointment how I can qualify formally ;) "This study
demonstrates that lesional and non-lesional magnetization transfer ratio values
(a parameter that estimates the amount of tissue damage occurring in multiple
sclerosis) can be significantly less pronounced in benign multiple sclerosis
than in a cohort of RR patients at their earliest disease stages, suggesting
that brain tissue damage is milder in benign multiple sclerosis than in early
RR disease. This can be due to an extraordinary beneficial response to demyelination
of benign patients and may represent the evidence that benign multiple sclerosis
truly exists and might be differentiated from other forms of this illness."

Are you a twin with MS?

2006-08-27 18:52:46

Here's some interesting stats coming out from a study of 700 pairs of twins.
Most interesting to me is the reference to higher prevelence of MS in the north
at an earlier age. Are you a twin? Does your twin have MS too? Inquiring minds
want to hear from you... "We've known that MS is more common the farther away
from the equator you get," says Thomas Mack, professor of preventive medicine
at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and lead author of the study. "By looking
at the number of times this occurs in twins both identical and fraternal twins
we could see whether it was just a matter of latitude or if there is something
else. This study suggests there's more concordance among identical twins, which
means there is some environmental exposure and it is interacting with the genes."
If environment alone was responsible for the increased incidence of both members
of the twin pair getting MS, there would be similarly high concordance among
fraternal twins. The study did not suggest that, however, showing instead that
both identical twins were far more likely to get the disease than both fraternal
twins. In fact, despite clear evidence of a much higher incidence of MS among
women, the study found high concordance in both male and female identical twins,
implying that mechanisms of inheritance are probably identical by sex. In other
words, genetic susceptibility trumps the traditional bias against MS in most
males. Northern residence also contributed significantly to earlier onset of
the disease. The researchers suggest that an early onset in the North could
represent an early environmental deficit in protection, such as by less opportunity
for early exposure to the sun, or for unknown reasons to an unrecognized causal
factor, such as a virus. "It may even be that exposure to the sun interrupts
whatever effect a virus has," Mack says.

FDA Approves Baclofen for Spasticity

2006-08-27 19:01:08

Hey! I don't think I've ever heard of this drug before. Is anyone on it? I
see that the news
release
talks about Flexor muscles. I'm always having my massage therapist
work on my flexors. They're always siezing up and causing problems. I have a
slew of exercises that release the muscles, but I have to do them all the time
to keep on top of it. Interesting drug option though. "Caraco's Baclofen Tablet
is a muscle relaxant and antispastic. It is useful for the alleviation of signs
and symptoms of spasticity resulting from multiple sclerosis, particularly for
the relief of flexor spasms and concomitant pain, clonus, and muscular rigidity.
Caraco has two strengths available, 10 mg and 20 mg tablets."

Is it just me or is MS everywhere!?

2006-08-27 19:26:55

Last week my PVR picked up this show on TLC
called Cover Shot
. It profiled a woman with MS and gave her this great makeover
so she could feel fabulous for a day. Montel Williams did an MS show a few weeks
back. I see the @Issue show where the MS Society of Canada took part in is repeating
tomorrow on the Issue channel (514 on Bell Satelite for those that have it).
AND then today I was watching my all time favourtie show called The
Dog Whisperer
and one of Cesar Milans clients was a family where the husband
has MS. He was able to learn to walk the dog with his scooter properly and become
the "pack leader". Love it. Anyways, I always question if MS feels like its
everywhere because it means something to me now? Or is the disease really getting
more time in the limelight these days? I sure hope its the later. MS needs it.

I should be in bed already...

2006-08-30 21:13:08

With it being month end tomorrow and all, I should be in bed but I just had to post. The Dalai Lama is coming to Vancouver in two weeks and we just bought tickets today to his seminar on Happiness. I'm SO excited! Okay, Goodnight all. :)