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Thousands of people living with advanced MS are being ‘forgotten’ by the NHS, says charity chief.

That is according to a UK survey of over 10,000 people with neurological conditions which suggests widespread failures in care. The research was conducted by the Neurological Alliance, a coalition of 80 organisations working together to improve outcomes for people in England with a neurological condition. It identifies concerning delays accessing support, with 39 per cent of respondents seeing a GP five or more times before being referred to a neurologist. Following referral, one in three patients waited more than 12 months for their appointment.

Tom’s troubled path from head injury to suicide spanned 21 years. It began with a road accident at age 22, which led to the subsequent onset of epilepsy, chronic insomnia, depression and muscular and skeletal pain. Intermittent drug and alcohol problems followed, as did a series of let downs by health and social care professionals. [...]

Fatigue is a subjective phenomenon – it cannot be measured objectively. It can be caused or exacerbated by depression, anxiety and stress, as well as a lack of regular and restorative sleep, chronic pain, seizure-related fatigue, hydrocephalus and hormonal abnormalities like hypothyroidism. Nutritional deficiencies (e.g. B12), anaemia and serious illness such as leukaemia, renal failure and hepatitis [...]

Balance problems and fatigue are common in MS, leading to falls and limited mobility. MS can also cause vision problems which may lead to inappropriate movement corrections that can exacerbate balance problems. A newly published study, authored by Jeffrey R. Hebert of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, involved eighty eight people with MS who [...]

When Ava Twomey was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy as a
baby her parents were told she’d never walk or talk – and might not live beyond the age of three. She would also be in residential care for the rest of her life, experts said. Now aged seven, Ava (pictured) not only walks, [...]

Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT), which 
is increasing being utilised to treat brain conditions and injuries, was among several key themes at the 2018 Chroma ABI Conference in London. A growing body of clinical evidence shows that NMT can have a profound influence on the brain – by energising complex cognitive processes to return degrees of function [...]

We are all too accustomed to television images of refugees and asylum seekers.
We often hear their stories; of persecution and suffering in their home countries and their struggles to reach the relative safety of
the West.  What we do not hear – because it has until now been a largely unexamined problem – is how many [...]