Scripps Clinic/ MS Society Pacific South Coast Chapter Event

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin

Spring Lecture Series on MS & Heat Management in Collaboration with Scripps Clinic

Join neurologist Charles Smith, MD and the National MS Society’s Pacific South Coast Chapter for a free series of seminars that will offer valuable information to people who want to better manage their MS symptoms and improve quality of life.

Dr. Charles Smith joined Scripps in 2009 after serving as director of the Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Centers at White Plains and Bronx Lebanon Hospital Centers in New York. Specializing in both MS and neuro-rehabilitation, Dr. Smith offers his patients comprehensive treatment at two locations—Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines and Scripps Clinic Rancho Bernardo. His scientific articles about MS and other neurological conditions have been published in over 40 medical journals. Each presentation will be followed by Q&A with Dr. Smith and a representative from the Society. Light refreshments will be provided.

Date: Thursday, June 14, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Address:
Scripps Memorial Hospital
9888 Genesee Ave, CA 92037
United States

Views of the MS Walk

Posted on May 9, 2012 by admin

MS: Did you Know...?Team tent view before MS Walk at Legoland April 22, 2012

One view during MS Walk at Legoland April 22, 2012

One view of Mini-Land during MS Walk at Legoland April 22, 2012

Walking for herself: MS Walk April 22 Legoland

MS Walk Legoland April 22

MS Walk check-in

: MS Walk Volunteers April 22, Legoland

Legoland MS Walk Volunteers April 22

: MS Walk Volunteers in April, Legoland.

Keep Cool!

Posted on April 24, 2012 by admin

Remember to keep your cool this spring and summer!

MS Walk this Sunday

Posted on April 20, 2012 by admin

I will be walking at the April 22 Legoland MS Walk event in Carlsbad, CA.

I hope you can get out in 2012 and help make the biggest fund-raising efforts of the national MS society a big hit. I am showing a picture of a past MS walk, in Irvine, CA, in which we raised several thousand dollars on behalf of MS research.

Check out the current Team Tech Brainy team page: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/CASWalkEvents?pg=team&fr_id=18075&team_id=284227

My personal walk sponsorship page is here: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/CASWalkEvents?px=10499579&pg=personal&fr_id=18075

Heading into Warmer Weather

Posted on April 4, 2012 by admin

Setting travel plans to Midwest, I am reminded quite firmly that we (in the Northern hemisphere) are heading into warmer weather. I am planning a trip to see relatives in Ohio and Indiana and I really need to plan around cooler weather whenever possible. Sadly, my window for cooler-weather travel is closing fast. Reason: heat can bring out lurking MS symptoms in the form of pseudoexacerbations. This is a fancy way of saying MS symptoms appear or worsen due to heat exposure.

People with MS, like myself, have plaques on our nerves where demyelination has taken place. This slows the ability of the nerves to function, and heat further slows down nerve impulse transmission in demylinated regions. Even a very slight increase of as little as one-quarter to one-half a degree in the body’s core temperature is enough to cause symptoms of heat intolerance (which I have written about before).

: Demyelination in MS

Sometimes, with heat intolerance, symptoms of MS appear that we might not have felt before, which is the result of a lesion in a corresponding area of the brain or spinal cord that was slight enough that it did not cause a relapse or symptoms dramatic enough to notice. Some, for example, get Uhthoff’s sign (blurred vision as a result of heat exposure). This is caused by a lesion on the optic nerve, known as optic neuritis. Many people that experience Uhthoff’s sign never had classic symptoms of optic neuritis and may be unaware that they ever had it until the appearance of Uhthoff’s sign due to heat intolerance, pseudoexacerbations.

For some people, heat intolerance and the pseudoexacerbations that come (including the mildest: tingling in the feet to the harder-core: crushing fatigue or severe weakness) can be debilitating enough that they are unable to function well at even slightly elevated temperatures and must consider moving to a cooler geographic location. Deaths have even been reported among people with MS who were sunbathing or relaxing in hot tubs and presumably lost the cognitive and likely physical ability to get out of the heat.

Stay cool if you can, but travel is my goal. I will take a cadre of coolers, misters, fans, breathable shoes with me when I go to the heartland, but I will, by Lord, travel!

Source: An Overview of Heat Intolerance and MS. http://ms.about.com/od/signssymptoms/a/heat_intoleranc.htm