This post is coming out later then I had planned but with this extreme fatigue I’m finding it hard to find motivation to write.
Last week I attended the MS Connect Conference that was held in Halifax. This is an event held by the MS Society at various locations across the country.
These are the presenters at the conference. To my surprise none of these speakers were clinicians but all researchers.
•Dr. George Robertson:
Dr. Robertson discussed the current MS therapies to reduce clinical relapses. The importance of how disease progression occurs is significant in the development in better treatments.
This was very interesting to see where we have been and where we are now with so many disease modifying therapies.
•Dr. Michelle Plougman :
Dr. Ploughman discussed her study which was Canada’s largest of the health and ageing with MS. To her surprise social interaction was a big help in overall health. Which I can agree with 100% as I have been off work for over a month due to an MS relapse; I am definitely missing social interaction from my life.
Also, surprise, surprise, exercise was shown during Dr. Ploughman presentation to have a positive impact on slowing disease progression in MS. When is exercise not a good idea eh?! It seems like exercise is always a good idea for everything in life.
It was great to learn that people with MS are living longer than ever before. I was really happy to find this out as there are still so many unknowns with MS.
•Dr. Craig Moore :
He discussed the recent breakthroughs and challenges with treating MS. There was definitely a positive outlook for the future and hopes of new medication. I believe that when the time comes when a cure is found therapies will be developed to a make life of those with MS very much like what they feel is normal to them ie life before MS.
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Several of the sponsors for the event had set up at the event one of them being EMD Serono. They provided an MS virtual reality experience that provided participants to experience the unseen burden of MS. This was important for those at the conference who do not live with MS to see what happens when you have MS.
Also, Biogen was there as a sponsor and they have an app called “aby” that helps you as you live with MS. Honestly, I haven’t tried it yet but it looks promising so I’m definitely going to test it out.
My only concern while at the conference is that some of the presenters may have been speaking at a scientific level above that of the audience. However, I believe that the conference overall was a great success.
In hearing this, I began to think more about about interconnectedness and wanting to reach out more to ensure that, as we fight For a cure to not only MS, we together strive to leave no one behind. And, in doing so help people live there best life !
Still smiling,
C
Edited by Aaron Andreino
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