Wow, today has a lot of ups and downs for those of us with MS. Since I like to end on an up note, I’m going to start with the really shitty:

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is spending our money on studies about CCSVI designed specifically to prove that there is no such thing, and that helping us have better blood flow to and from our brains won’t help us be healthier or feel better. They are using the money that we raised for them, for our health and wellbeing to conduct studies in the hopes of proving that even if our veins are blocked by 90%, unblocking them will have no effect on us.

Here’s the “links or it didn’t happen proof.”

Pretty awesome, huh?

On the potentially upside, the FDA has voted to approve Gilenia, the first oral MS drug. Gilena is, of course, the marketing name that was given to Fingolimod.

I first started following fingolimod in December of 2008. Anyway, after several years of following friends who are on it on Patients Like Me, Facebook, and also on the blog that I linked to on the prior post, I am avidly and happily awaiting the release of Gilena. It means no more needles and no more sore injection spots! Unfortunately, I’ll be more susceptible to infection, but that just means that I need to be more cleanly. Considering MS happens because of an overactive immune system, worse things have been known to happen. (Then again, what if MS is a vein disease?) I will stay on Copaxone until Anthem/Blue Cross ads it to their formulary.

I wonder how often they update that thing.