Episode 421: Optimizing Your Brain Health with Nurse Practitioner Erin Wilkinson
RealTalk MS22 Sep 2025

Episode 421: Optimizing Your Brain Health with Nurse Practitioner Erin Wilkinson

Happy birthday to us! RealTalk MS is 8 years old today! It's hard for me to believe that the podcast I launched in 2017, with the goal of one day reaching 300 listeners, today reaches thousands of people living with MS, their care partners, MS researchers, and clinicians in more than 100 countries.

So, let me start this week's show notes with a profound thank you to each of you for being an important part of the RealTalk MS listener community. Your ongoing engagement is a constant reminder that our podcast is a two-way conversation. And I'm looking forward to continuing the conversation until we can talk about MS in the past tense.

MS can affect memory, attention, and processing speed. But proactive strategies can help preserve your cognitive function and quality of life.

Erin Wilkinson, a nurse practitioner in the Multiple Sclerosis Department of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, is joining me to help us better understand the relationship between MS and brain health and to share strategies for preserving and even improving brain health.

You'll also meet Jan Bonville, a consultant, speaker, writer, and advocate for inclusive travel and patient empowerment. Jan has lived with MS for twenty years, and our conversation focused on resilience, empowerment, and self-advocacy. As you will hear, these are things that Jan lives every day.

We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??!

This Week: Happy birthday to us and greetings from ECTRIMS! :22

MS advocate Jan Bonville discusses resilience, empowerment, and self-advocacy 4:40

Nurse Practitioner Erin Wilkinson shares strategies for optimizing your brain health 23:03

Share this episode 41:01

Next week's episode 41:21

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I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts!

Email: jon@realtalkms.com
Phone: (310) 526-2283

And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group!

LINKS

If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com

PARTICIPATE: Take the Shaping Tomorrow Together Survey
https://s.alchemer.com/s3/Perspectives-on-MS

REGISTER: Attend the virtual Shaping Tomorrow Together meeting with the FDA
https://nmss.quorum.us/event/25463

SIGN UP: Become an MS Activist
https://nationalmssociety.org/advocacy

LISTEN: RealTalk MS Episode 416: The Updated McDonald Diagnostic Criteria for MS with Dr. Andrew Solomon
https://realtalkms.com/416

VIDEO: Dr. Robert Fox explains the results of the Phase 3 clinical trial for Tolebrutinib and Non-relapsing secondary progressive MS
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tJQ93qdlXrU

JOIN: The RealTalk MS Facebook Group
https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms

DOWNLOAD: The RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200

DOWNLOAD: The RealTalk MS App for Android Devices
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk

REVIEW: Give RealTalk MS a rating and review
http://www.realtalkms.com/review

Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com.

RealTalk MS Episode 421
Guests: Jan Bonville and NP Erin Wilkinson

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