Samantha Salvaggio Vanderman is a chronic illness coach, personal trainer, and behavior change specialist with degrees in nutrition and pharmaceutical science. She’s also lived with multiple sclerosis for 17 years. Over that time, she’s tried seven different disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) and learned to listen to her body and thrive with MS. Watch the video to hear Samantha’s tips for choosing treatments for MS.
00:00:02:18 - 00:00:27:09
Samantha
I was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis in 2005. In the last 17 years, I’ve been on seven different DMTs, and so I definitely have ample experience in choosing a medicine. I always take the following into consideration when I’m trying to choose a treatment: my doctor’s guidance and insight, my lifestyle, and how the method of treatment fits in it, possible side effects,
00:00:27:18 - 00:00:59:06
Samantha
logistics like cost, and then I weigh the overall risk versus reward. I tend to lean more on the scientific data and my own nonnegotiables, knowing that at the end of the day, choosing a medicine’s an individual choice, and I’m doing the best I can with the information I have at the time. If you’re living with multiple sclerosis and doubting your ability to keep dealing with all the challenges that come along with it, take a minute and reflect on all the struggles in your life and everything that you’ve made it through to date.
00:00:59:15 - 00:01:01:11
Samantha
You found a way and you did it.
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I was diagnosed in March 2014 but was running around from doctor to doctor before I finally got a result that I was free from Multiple sclerosis (MS). Mine started on top and progressed into the… read more
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