Momentum
WINTER.2011–12
The magazine of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
GE T TING A
HANDLE ON
MS PAIN
PAGE 18
My
Smartphone and
Me
PAGE 45
Ho w can I get
help, without
worrying anyone?
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FROM
THE EDITOR
Winter changes
The winter months bring a raft of extra challenges to people with MS. Holiday excitement, wonderful as it is, is so likely to intensify a person’s wish to, for once, “be normal”—and this at he very moment when stress most needs to be under control.
Then there’s the expense of holiday celebrations in households
already stressed by what this disease costs.
Add in the end-of-year decisions—about insurance coverage
and prescription drug plans that need to be considered and perhaps
revised. And taxes! People with disabilities may be eligible for breaks
or may incur extra tax expenses if this is not played well. Time
for end-of-year giving, too, for those who have that good fortune.
Something else to do.
The Society wants to be your ally in all of this. Call 1-800-344-
4867 to ask your questions about health insurance, taxes and
financial planning, stress management, and health-care providers
who know MS. And see page 35 for an article on stress.
And please read on. This Momentum has a big article on pain.
It doesn’t seem fair. But the subject demands attention. Often
misunderstood, even by health-care professionals, still mysterious
despite decades of neurologic investigation—pain has the power to
undermine just about everything.
We were given a good boost by posts to the National MS Society’s
Facebook page. The comments showed that for many people, MS
pain, like almost everything else MS, is managed by people, not by
medications alone, by “give it a try” attitudes, by help from friends,
family and pets, by humor and by guts.
I think it’s these qualities in the many people I’ve encountered
in my 20 years here that I’ll miss most of all. This is the last issue
of Momentum on which I’ll serve as editor. The magazine will of
course continue—and change and develop and continually learn
how to be of help. But it’s time for me to move on.
Thank you all.
Martha King, Editor, Momentum
editor@nmss.org
National MS Society
733 Third Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10017
GARY SULLIVAN
