Hello friends --WOOT WOOT - it's FRIYAY!! Anybody got any fun plans for the weekend? Yeah - me neither! I had a great time last night though. I actually got invited backstage at a Ron White (comedian) show, then onto his tour bus to hang out and try his personal Tequila brand (he owns the company). This Tequila is aged 13 years prior to opening it! It was a fun - and bizarre - evening. I get myself into some interesting situations  . . .So - on to the business at hand: the FUMS Friday Night 6-Pack ~~

1. Open Enrollment for the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) started yesterday, November 1st. It's predicted that the premiums will go down just a bit this year - and that the numbers enrolling will go up. Don't wait. If you're signing up for the first time - or re-enrolling - do it asap! Here's where: www.Healthcare.gov.

2. Next Tuesday is the mid-term elections here in the US. RealTalkMS - a wonderful MS resource and podcast - has put together an "MS Congressional Report Card" where you can select your state and see how your representatives rate in terms of their votes for issues that have been most important to people with MS. It can be an important tool in making good decisions at the polls on Tuesday. Here's that link: MS Congressional Report Care 

3. Are you interested in participating in a clinical trial? Here's our chance. Here's a trial with the intention of disability prevention titled "Clinical Trial: Biomarker-Guided Combination Therapies for MS". Interested? Here's that link: Clinical Trial

4. I'm going to do a series of interviews on the differences of MS diagnosis and treatment in different countries for the FUMS Podcast Show. If you or someone you know lives in a country other than the U.S., has MS, speaks English clearly (for the pod) and would be willing to share their story of diagnosis and treatment in their country - please reach out to me - by either hitting reply to this email or via email at [email protected]. Thanks so much. This should be a REALLY interesting series.

5. Bacteria that reside in the human gut may trigger autoimmune reactions by producing human-like proteins that mimic a naturally occurring and crucial cell protein. WHAT?!?!  Read more here: Gut Bacteria

6. MS'ers tend toward issues with bowel and bladder, particularly constipation. Here's a great video with 5 foods to help with that situation: Constipation. Additionally - if you're suffering from any of the issues that MS can bring about having to do with bowel and bladder - consider downloading our ebook - "Bowel and Bladder Issues In Multiple Sclerosis by Two Pee Brains With Potty Mouths Talking Shit About MS." It's a real book. I'm not kidding. And it's full of great information supplied by my co-author - and smart-ass funny stuff as supplied by me! Here's the link: Ebook

Well, that's it for this week's edition. Hope you got a lot of value from it. Have a great weekend and be sure to join me and the rest of the community over in the FUMS Facebook community 

Warmly -- Kathy#FUMS 

Sometimes it helps the stress, just to say "F-U-M-S"