Hey  - 

I just dragged myself in from the beach. It was 71 degrees here today. In January. After I've been FREEZING taking the dog out several times a day for weeks. I felt like I deserved some time on the beach after that. And what a glorious feeling it was. I didn't even need a coat. I just wore my FUMS windbreaker and it was perfect! What a weather rollercoaster.  🎢  I'll probably pay for this weird weather quirk when it snaps back to normal January temps and pisses my MS off - but - in the meantime - you can find me on the beach 🏖️ making good use of that wonderful, healing, anti-inflammatory, Vitamin D-building, happy-making sunshine! If you get a chance - get out there. The sun helps us physically, mentally and emotionally. **Stay tuned for more information on sun health and all the benefits from that beautiful orange ball - and how to get those benefits even when the sun isn't shining where you are! 😉

My beach windbreaker!! 😉 🌊  🐚

Ok - enough beach dreaming, what's going on in the world of MS this week??  Here you go:

1.  In the year before your MS diagnosis - did you have more trips to the doctor - perhaps for some "unspecified" issues??  There seems to be a pattern here. It may be part of a "prodromal stage" of MS. Super interesting stuff. "Hindsight is 20/20" as they say: Healthcare utilization increases in the year before MS diagnosis

2. Lots of MS'ers have gone Gluten Free due to the inflammation caused by Gluten. But - did you know - that Gluten is not the only wheat protein at issue in inflammation? This may be the reason to bid wheat a fond farewell:  In MS, diet low in wheat may ease inflammation, improve life quality

3.  And the hits just keep on coming: young Black and Hispanic women diagnosed with multiple sclerosis are more likely to fare worse than young white women do, a new study shows. Specifically, they are more likely to have advanced MS and to face greater challenges during pregnancy, according to findings published Jan. 23 in the journal Neurology. Race Matters in MS Progression Among Women

4.  We were all told upon diagnosis to jump on the Vit D train 🚂. But - is that just making for expensive urine??  Sorry to say but - yes, yes it is.  "Taking a high-dose vitamin D supplement as an add-on to standard treatment for MS doesn’t slow the development of new lesions. Vitamin D also had no effect on how fast disability worsened or how often relapses occurred, which is consistent with previous findings that taking a high-dose supplement of vitamin D doesn’t change the course of disease, at least not within up to about two years."  Ummmm - yeah.  All those years of buying and taking those pills, down the drain - quite literally. I will say that believing I could do something to help myself was empowering. It's a shame it was false hope - but hope is hope. I'll take it. But now that we know better - we can do better. Our Vit D levels are notoriously low so -  how does that work??  Stay tuned. I'll be talking more about a project I'm involved in regarding UVB light therapy for MS.  It's super exciting and I can't wait to share it with you. In the meantime - get outside - get some sunlight - 15-20 minutes a day - without sunscreen. Let your body absorb that glorious Vitamin D. Just quit paying the supplement companies for it.  😉 🌞. High-dose vitamin D does not slow MS lesion development

5.  "People with a certain type of genetic makeup who’ve have head trauma may have a risk of developing MS up to nearly 18 times over those without genetic factors or a history of head trauma, a study shows."  I had head trauma - how about YOU??  Concussion when you were a kid? Beating your head against a wall as your teenager rolls thier eyes at you? Interesting stuff.  Head injuries, genetic makeup increase MS risk by up to 18 times

6.  Word fishing. It's that horrible moment when you cannot access a word that you know damn well you know. In fact, for me - I can usually access the first letter - that's how close to coming out of my mouth it is - but still, nothing. Yeah - THAT.  Cognitive dysfunction. Cog fog.  Whatever you call it - it sucks. Don't get me started on when people say "oh, that happens to me all the time too. Just wait - it'll happen more as you age." Ummmm - little different folks.  ANYWHO - the Defense Health Agency (just learned about them myself) gave the University of Texas $1.6 Million to crack the code on word fishing!!  Here's hoping. 🤞🏻 Backed by $1.6M DHA Grant, UT Dallas Neuroscientist Works To Improve Word Retrieval in MS Patients

That's all folks. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help you in any way. Otherwise - just keep saying FUMS!! 🧡Cheers -- KathyKathy Reagan YoungFounder, FUMSP.S. If you enjoy the humor and information in the FUMS 6-Pack newsletter, you can show your appreciation and support by donating to help defray the costs of creating this weekly resource.Here's where to go:  Thanks, FUMS - keep it coming! 

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

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