by Paul Páez

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/21/us/health-care-reform.html/#scenario-1

I’ve been out of touch much of the past month, so it may be a bit anti-climactic to note, but today is my last post on The Quest for Better Health.

Essentially, I’ve been busy putting into practice much of what I have learned from maintaining this blog for almost two years. Specifically that means:

• eating a diet high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids (the kind from fish and olive oil);
• reducing greatly the amount of inflammatory foods I intake (carbohydrates, sugars, and dairy);
• trying to exercise at least 4 times a week despite the neuropathic pain;
• and reducing stress while I try to relaunch my career that was derailed four years ago due to my illness.

The results have been great so far, as I’ve lost 8 pounds and no longer need my cane to walk about.  It has left, however, little time to comment on the blog.

But with the admittedly surprising passage of the health care bill last night, it seemed worth noting that the time to end my quest has arrived.

As for the new law, it’s not perfect but it is good.

Effective immediately, those with a pre-existing condition can buy into a high-risk pool until favorable health care exchanges are in place in 2014.  As a person facing the end of his COBRA subsidy and the unending struggle against multiple sclerosis, this is very good news indeed for me and my family.

More importantly, it’s great news for more than 32 million other people.   That’s almost the population of a country the size of Canada.  This is a big deal.

What’s more, it removes the burden of providing health insurance for small businesses, meaning (I predict) a wave of new entrepreneurs leaving corporate jobs to start new businesses that will create new jobs and new economic activity.

Case in point: My wife and I are starting our own small business as of today. It will focus on serving locally grown food consistent with a healthy, Mediterranean diet and a discerning palate.

We’ll be selling lunches and pre-packaged foods at farmers markets throughout Los Angeles and Southern California, so if you’re in the area, look us up some day. Already in production is a cook book (not a diet book!) on how to make great tasting food for people with MS and autoimmune diseases.

In the meantime, I want to thank everyone who actually read my posts throughout the past two years. I really started all this as a form of therapy as I was losing my ability to participate in life. Thanks to those of you who read and commented on the blog, I found a sense of purpose again and I think that, as much as anything else, helped me get through the worst of my symptoms.

I’m all better now.

Thank you,

paul edward páez

Related articles:

• Health Care Reform Cheat Sheet, Version 3.0 (cbsnews.com)
• Health Care Bill: What Does it Mean For You? (abcnews.go.com)
• An historically single-issue day (economist.com)
• FDL Statement on the Passage of the Health Care Bill (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
• Food and Commercial Workers Laud Passage of Sweeping Health Care Reforms (eon.businesswire.com)

MS Awareness Week : National MS Society.

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• Birkie Skiers for Cures and the National MS Society in Wisconsin (brassandivory.blogspot.com)
• A daughter’s tribute to her dying mother (medicine.com.my)
• Local Chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society Launches New Attention-Grabbing Ad Campaign (eon.businesswire.com)
• MS Patient Support Organizations (brassandivory.blogspot.com)

I will admit to being a bit surprised by the number of MS patients I have met who are on Tysabri, considering the incidents of  PML that are associated with the drug. I recognize the improved quality of life associated with the drug, and I’m told it’s efficacy is superior to other disease modifying drugs; but according to my neurologist, the risks do not justify the benefit (and that the scuttlebutt among the medical community is that the risks are worse than officially reported).

The decision, of course, is up to each patient, but it’s important to have the most up to date information in order to make that decision. Here’s the latest from Biogen, the company that manufactures the drug, and it suggests the risk of PML increases the longer one is on Tysabri.

News Detail : National MS Society.

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• More Doses of Multiple Sclerosis Drug Raise Risk of Brain Infection (nlm.nih.gov)
• More Checks for Biogen’s Tysabri – Analyst Blog (benzinga.com)
• Biogen’s Tysabri to Carry New Warnings, FDA Says (Update1) (businessweek.com)
• Biogen Idec’s Tysabri Continues to Grow in Popularity but Poses Some Risks (seekingalpha.com)
• Biogen, Elan’s Tysabri Drug Linked to 35 Brain Disease Cases (businessweek.com)
• FDA warns of brain risks with frequent Tysabri use (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Tysabri, the MS Drug Haunted by Deadly Side Effect, Doesn’t Look So Deadly Anymore (xconomy.com)
• FDA warns of brain risks with frequent Tysabri use (sfgate.com)

New MS research lifts victims\’ hopes – Times LIVE.