MS Strength

It’s now the height of summer in the northern hemisphere and as people celebrate this 4th of July weekend, thoughts turn to keeping comfortable and cool. For people with MS, it’s always a good idea to avoid overheating to keep the nerves conducting as well as possible, but staying indoors on a sunny day can be a big drag. A great way to keep body temperatures down is to use portable cooling devices such as vests, neck wraps, and wrist wraps, depending on your needs. Cathy, at Navigating the Journey of MS, has an online multiple sclerosis store, The MS Shoppe, which sells a variety of these cooling devices. She opened this store with her husband to provide consumers with quality MS merchandise, including MS books, mobility devices, funny t-shirts, nightlights, and other relative multiple sclerosis items.

Yeah!!….An open mic session at Joan’s chat room this Friday. Maybe we can do Mad Libs? Or start an online band? Or talk about the lack of sun here along the central East Coast? I think it’ll be great fun and I’m looking forward to it (as always…) What a fantastic group of MSers who always make me smile.

Delaware Area MS On-line Chat
Friday 26 June, 7:00 - 9:30 pm
Chat Topic: And Now for Something Completely Different

Let’s do something completely different in honor of the lazy days of summer. Call it an “Open Mike Night” or maybe “BS about MS.” No specific topic, just whatever you want to chat about. But be warned: if you whine too much, you’ll need to follow up with a joke or a song. We’ll have a karaoke machine in the wings…

If you want to connect on-line with others with Multiple Sclerosis in Delaware and surrounding areas, please join us THIS FRIDAY any time between 7:00 - 9:30 pm. Show up when you want, leave when you want. Chat from the comfort of your own home.

To attend, go to the right margin of A Short in the Cord and click on the coffee cup or “Enter My Chat Room.” Then follow the directions. (You must have Java enabled.)

Recent research about multiple sclerosis and smoking has peaked my interest: I learned to smoke when I was in eighth grade and although I was never a regular smoker, I did do it at parties in high school and college and beyond. Also during tense conversations with friends as almost a “bonding” mechanism. This is probably considered recreational or social smoking, which I’ve been able to tame as of late, but I recently became curious about the notion that EARLY smoking habits might affect the chances of developing MS. Here’s what I learned:

A new scientific study reveals a possible link between smoking at an early age and developing multiple sclerosis. Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, in collaboration with the Veterans Affairs MS Center for Excellence, recently conducted a study with MS patients— 87 in total— to determine the likelihood of developing MS if a patient was an early smoker (under the age of 17 when beginning the habit), an older smoker (starting above age 17), or a nonsmoker.

Out of the study participants, including 435 individuals without MS, early smokers were 2.7 times more likely to develop multiple sclerosis compared to nonsmokers. Older smokers were not found to have any more of a risk than non-smokers.

*For more information about the study and related materials, see Johns Hopkins Medicine.