My wife, Wendy, and I had a wonderful Sunday recently. We rose early and hit the road to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where we had lived for over 41 years before moving to Pittsburgh to be closer to our kids and grandkids. I’d agreed to play for the 10:30 a.m. service at…

After nearly three months of treatment with pitolisant, adults with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) experienced a reduction of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and fatigue. That’s according to data from the Phase 2 trial (NCT04886518), which is testing the safety and efficacy of Harmony Biosciences’ therapy in…

As a caregiver to my three sons living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), I’ve had a few bad days lately. I’ve generally felt worn out and a little sad, and the parties around here have been pity parties. I try to be positive and remain in a place of…

The last time I traveled on my own without my parents was last May, when my friends and I went to Hawaii. While my parents did come with us, they kept to the hotel room and let us explore. Being away from the comfort of home made me realize I…

Learning when to say yes and when to say no has been especially important for me as I live with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). It’s a balance between trying to rise up in my career by accepting story assignments, and saying no to events, friends, and more assignments so that…

I saw a meme today that said, “I need a day between every day to recover from the day before and prepare for the upcoming day.” I could not have identified with anything more today. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I am exhausted. I was a single caregiver and…

By deleting the Mss51 gene, scientists were able to reduce fatigue, increase endurance, and ease mitochondrial impairment in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Mss51 is a gene that provides instructions to make a skeletal muscle protein specifically found in mitochondria, the small cell compartments responsible for…

Since my internship at The Washington Post, I’ve done freelance work at outlets ranging from The Forward, a Jewish-focused website, to Dot Esports, and of course, Bionews, the publisher of Muscular Dystrophy News. In the past year and a half, I’ve realized that working for…

Those of us with invisible chronic illnesses master the art of mindfulness for our bodies. Since our symptoms show little signs of existence, we must work hard to translate our body’s hidden language of fatigue. Neglecting this skill could impede receiving the medical help we so desperately need.

My early years in this world were spent being a girlie girl. Along with my stash of crowns and fake pearls were things like brightly colored nail polish and some mini lipsticks bought at Sally’s Beauty. Little did I know that as I grew older and my mitochondrial myopathy…