The Magical Brain

Blimey, this feels a bit like a newsletter, but I think there’s a few updates and loose ends on recent posts to tie up, so here goes: Fampridine I have my first official batch of fampridine to help with my mobility. As mentioned before, I hadn’t really noticed how much it was helping me walk

Fampridine trial thoughts

I’ve just come off my trial period of Fampridine and I’ve decided to carry on with it. Fampridine is a potassium channel blocker which ultimately means that messages can travel along nerves more efficiently. It’s prescribed for MS patients like me, with a walking disability. It’s something I would take alongside the other medications I’m

A postcard from Limboland

A month ago, if you asked me how tall I was, I’d say I was a six footer. It seems I’m not. I’m a five-foot-ten-and-a-half short-arse apparently, so essentially I’ve lost an inch and a half (4cm) in height. Even if you consider I may have always rounded up by half an inch, and I

The aftermath

Warning: this post contains experience of intense pain and some details of sensitive medical procedures. Sometimes I think of my MS as a monster. A monster who is always there tugging at my neck, poking me in the back, tripping me up or holding my ankles like a deadweight. As a child of the ‘70s,

Sticking at it

I plucked up the courage to go down to my allotment the other day. The first proper visit of the year is always a bit daunting. I can see the allotment as it’s just behind where I live, so I know that my plot has spent a number of days recently under a foot or

It’s been a while..

I knew I hadn’t updated this blog for ages but I didn’t realise the last time I had anything to say was September 2015. I’ve been busy caring for an elderly relative (now in residential care) and editing a poetry journal (now resigned), so I’ve either been exhausted or lacking the will and free time

The best drug

I’ve just had a weekend home alone while my wife and kids went to visit friends in the North East. As usual I had a list of jobs to do and as usual I missed their company. On the Saturday I made a concerted effort to finish everything. I tidied out our garage making a

Getting fit with Mr Uhthoff

This isn’t a new year’s resolution, but I have decided to get fit. This incorporates a couple of in-built problems, the most obvious being the MS, of course, but the second being the fact that I don’t do personal trainers (I have to admit to being quite rude to the only one I have ever