News

Are you ready for a Fiesta?

The MS Ireland Branch Training Webinar will take place on Wednesday, 3rd May at 4pm. 

To celebrate World MS Day, MS Ireland has been given the exciting opportunity of a radio takeover on Community Radio Kilkenny City 88.7FM.

I’m late. I schedule meetings and forget about them. I double book myself for coffee dates. I overcommit to events clinging to the unrealistic expectation that I can do it all. My life is a perpetual cycle of semi-organised chaos. Time management is my Achilles heel, a mirage glittering in the distance, just within reach but somehow unobtainable. I have always found it incredibly hard to stick to schedules, but brain fog means it’s become substantially worse. I have taken living for the now to the extreme believing that every day I wake up feeling well is limited and I’m on borrowed time. This urge to do all of the things all of the time is accompanied by latent procrastination which just adds an extra dose of panic to my entire existence. This inevitably leads to punishing guilt.

To celebrate World MS Day, MS Ireland has been given the exciting opportunity of a radio takeover on Galway’s Flirt FM/101.3 

Lift your voice for World MS Day

From loss of workplace comradery and friends that seem to fade away, to forgotten invitations and last-minute cancellations, MS can make keeping in touch more difficult.  Our host Trevis L Gleason and a panel with Dr Rebecca Maguire (Assoc Professor of Psychology Dept Maynooth), Emma Rogan and Joan Jordan will talk about “Mending Broken Connections” on MS Ireland's The Unspeakable Bits Webinar on Monday, 29th May at 8pm as part of World MS Day events. Free registration here

Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Motor Neurons Disease (MND), Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody Disease (MOGAD), Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD), Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS)…an array of chronic illnesses, with varying abbreviations, different treatments, trajectories and yet a multitude of similarities.

All of these illnesses involve damage to the Central Nervous System (CNS) in some shape or form and the initial presentations of weakness, pins and needles, double vision and fatigue can be the workings of any and all of these conditions. Is it any wonder that MS take its time in a diagnosis? There are so many other options to be ruled out before MS can be ruled in. So many opportunities for both a missed diagnosis and a mis-diagnosis. I have always considered my MS to have been somewhat of an evolutionary diagnosis – a process of elimination by which to reach a final conclusion.

MS Ireland launched their May 50k challenge and fundraising campaign this week with Tipp Today host Fran Curry on Tipp FM. Sally Spearman from MS Ireland launched the May 50K Challenge on Tipp FM’s Tipp Today Show. To highlight and support this great fundraiser, host Fran Curry will be taking up this healthy challenge in May. Speaking of the upcoming challenge Fran Curry, the host of Tipperary’s most listened to radio show said “I'm delighted to be taking part in the May 50K Challenge for MS Ireland. Not only will it help support the vital services provided by MS Ireland, but from a health viewpoint it will also really benefit those taking part. I would encourage as many people as possible to take part in the May 50K Challenge by registering on their website https://www.themay50k.ie”. Listen to the interview here and register to take part here.  

Body image and its association with well-being in people with and without multiple sclerosis

Researchers from UCD and St Vincents University Hospital are inviting people living with MS, as well as those who are not living with the condition to take part in a study which aims to explore the attitudes people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have towards their bodies. The research will also investigate interoceptive awareness which refers to an awareness of what is going on inside your body at any given time. Additionally, researchers aim to assess the high prevalence of sexual dysfunction in people living with MS and examine its relationship with other dimensions of body image, depression and interoceptive awareness.