"Just arrived in New York to participate in the National MS Society's (NMSS) webcast tomorrow on 'Making the Most of Your Life with MS in 2016 and Beyond'. I hope you have all signed-up to watch."
"On the flight over I was thinking about how to make more of this trip than simply a webcast. The good thing about being trapped on a flight without too many distractions is that I had time to think and expand on an idea that was planted in my brain by Nuria Batlle, a nutritionist who works with us. Earlier this year Nuria completed a constipation, and dietary, audit of patients under our care at Barts. She was appalled about how poor the average MSer diet is at both a macro and micro nutrient level and how poorly we manage constipation with diet. I think the results simply reflect the poor diet of the UK and is not unique to patients under our care. Thanks to Nuria we now have a plan to improve things; this will require a service development and a business case. I hope the NHS has the money."
"Nuria is also interested in the influence of circadian rhythms on metabolism and is sure that a lot of the eating problems that pwMS have is due to their abnormal sleep patterns. Nuria is currently preparing a grant application to study this aspect of health in pwMS. However, Nuria also pointed out that we academics suffer the same problem with our chaotic sleep behaviour. It is now clear that poor sleep is linked to poor brain health and I promised Nuria that I will make an effort to manage my own health, including my sleep, better in 2016. This promise feeds into the Brain Health Challenge that I launched a few weeks ago on the blog. I am now suggesting we extend this Barts-MS group and anyone out there who would like to join us."
"When it comes to the challenge I have divided the issues into 4 categories; treat-2-target, lifestyle, comorbidities and wellness. I am sure your neurologist and MS nurse could take-up the challenge and join you with the non-MS specific categories? I am interested to see who in our group takes up the challenge. Nuria is prepared to do a baseline examination so that we can set targets for ourselves. The lists below are at present a discussion point; they are not rigid and can be changed. I am simply hoping by putting pen to paper that it will make you reflect on your health and what you would like to do in 2016. Don't forget that today is the first day of the rest of your life."
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
2 – 3 p.m. Eastern (1 – 2 p.m. CT, Noon – 1 p.m. MT, 11 a.m. – Noon PT)
To register for the live webcast, please click here.
Topics include:
- Symptom management and promising therapies
- Wellness strategies, including addressing depression and using exercise to enhance quality of life
- Encouraging research on the horizon
Panelists include:
- Dr. Gavin Giovannoni, Professor of Neurology, Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine
- Dr. Rob Motl, Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology and Community Health, Univ. of Illinois
- Dr. Nancy L. Sicotte, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- Dr. Timothy Coetzee, Chief Advocacy, Services and Research Officer for the National MS Society.
* For people who cannot participate in real-time, we will post the recorded version with transcript for viewing shortly after the event.
"The Brain Health Challenge; are you and your healthcare professional up for it?"