What do you know about Multiple Sclerosis?
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Multiple Sclerosis\n\nMultiple sclerosis is a disease that may affect any area of the brain and spinal cord. Multiple Sclerosis does not affect nerve cells. It affects transmission of electrical signals to nerve cells. Multiple sclerosis is the most common cause of chronic neurological disability in young adults. It is not contagious.\n\nAs multiple sclerosis progresses, problems of sight become serious, such as dimness of vision, partial blindness, double vision, and the inability to control the movement of the eyeball.\n\nCauses?\n\nThe exact cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown. However, researchers believe multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory process that attacks a substance in the nervous system called myelin.\n\nMyelin is an important substance. It surrounds the cells in the nervous system and facilitates rapid transmission of signals up and down neurons. When myelin is broken down, nerve impulses travel slower, causing symptoms that are characteristic of Multiple Sclerosis.\n\nSymptoms?\n\nMultiple Sclerosis causes symptoms and signs that vary unpredictably over decades, and may relapse, progress, or undergo spontaneous remission.\n\nSymptoms vary greatly depending on the site of inflammation. In general they affect sensory or motor function causing patients to experience fatigue, numbness, tremor, loss of vision, pain, paralysis, loss of balance, and bladder and bowel dysfunction, painful muscle spasms and numbness in the entire body. Men may experience erectile dysfunction. Women may have a loss of libido or difficulty reaching orgasm. Multiple sclerosis attacks can last for more than 24 hours.\n\nSymptoms may be triggered by exercise, exertion, or with increased body temperatures. When symptoms are triggered by increased body temperatures, they usually cease when the body temperature is returned to normal.\n\nMultiple Sclerosis in the News\n\nNew research finds there may be a link between a common virus (Epstein Barr) and multiple sclerosis.\n\nEpstein Barr sometimes causes mononucleosis, and researchers at Harvard report that women who show signs of having been exposed to the virus — even those likely exposed as children — appear to have a much higher chance of developing multiple sclerosis, as much as four times as great as women without the exposure.\n\nBut the researchers caution the correlation does not mean that Epstein Barr causes MS, a very serious nerve illness.\n\nStatistics?\n\n* Multiple Sclerosis affects women twice as much as it affects men\n* An Identical twin of a person who has Multiple Sclerosis have a 25-percent chance of getting the disease\n* There are approximately 350,000 people in the US with Multiple Sclerosis\n* There are about 2.5 million people worldwide with Multiple Sclerosis.\n* Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system which affects Canadians more frequently than most other countries in the world.\n* Multiple Sclerosis can cause loss of balance, impaired speech, extreme fatigue, double vision and paralysis\n* Multiple Sclerosis was first identified and described by a French neurologist, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, in 1868.\n* Sclerosis means scars...these are the plaques or lesions in the brain and spinal cord\n* Life span is not significantly affected by Multiple Sclerosis.\n* Many of the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis can be successfully managed and treated.
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Treatments\n\nAlthough there is still no cure for MS, there are various strategies available to modify the disease course, treat exacerbations, manage symptoms, and improve function and safety. In combination, these treatments enhance the quality of life for people living with MS. \n\nBecause MS is so variable from one person to another, and for any one person over time, each individual's treatment needs are best identified in an ongoing collaboration with a knowledgeable physician and other members of the treatment team.\n\n\n\nModifying the Disease Course\nThe following agents can reduce future disease activity for many individuals with relapsing forms of MS, including those with secondary progressive disease who continue to have relapses.
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Well, you really need a doctor to help you. If you do not like the advice your current doctor is giving, then you should find another who may be able to help with your concerns. But if you have a doctor who thinks s/he knows what is wrong with you, they have prescribed medication to fix it, and you aren't taking it, then you need to address that. Because either the doctor is right and you need to find medication to help (either what has already been prescribed or an alternative), or the doctor is wrong and you need another. Just ignoring the doctor's advice and trying to self-diagnose is a good way to get yourself in trouble.\n\nAs for MS, it could be, but it is really hard to say. There is not really a definitive test for MS; it isn't like they can just give you a blood test and say, "Yup. MS." Unless things have changed since I last had to worry about it, a doctor that suspects MS can find indicators or warning signs, and if they are sufficiently concerned that it might be MS, they'll likely do an MRI to look for nerve damage. An MRI can pretty much confirm such a diagnosis, but can't really rule it out. Pain, numbness, tingling, tremors all could be signs of MS, or lots of other things.
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Why do you need a specialist.  Any qualified neurologist can diagnose MS through testing.  To look for one that has a special interest in MS just check out the docs referernces where it tells what his special intersts are.  If you think you may have it see a neurologist and get tested.
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Here's what I found:\n\nAs a result of the inflammatory, demyelinating process in the central nervous system, people with MS can experience a wide variety of symptoms. The most common symptoms of MS include:\n\nFatigue (also called MS lassitude to differentiate it from tiredness resulting from other causes)\n\nProblems with walking\n\nBowel and or bladder disturbances\n\nVisual problems\n\nChanges in cognitive function, including problems with memory, attention, and problem-solving\n\nAbnormal sensations such as numbness or "pins and needles"\n\nChanges in sexual function\n\nPain\n\nDepression and/or mood swings\n\nLess common symptoms include:\n\nTremor\n\nIncoordination\n\nSpeech and swallowing problems\n\nImpaired hearing\n\nAll of these are considered primary symptoms of MS because they are a direct result of demyelination, the destruction of myelin—the fatty sheath that surrounds and insulates nerve fibers in the central nervous system—and of damage to the nerve fibers themselves. Demyelination and neuronal damage impair transmission of nerve impulses to muscles and other organs, resulting in impaired function. Many of these symptoms can be managed effectively with medication, rehabilitation, and other management strategies. \n\nIn addition to the primary symptoms caused by demyelination, there are other types of problems or complications that can occur as indirect results of the primary symptoms or the experience of having a chronic illness:\n\nSecondary symptoms of MS are complications that can arise as a result of the primary symptoms. For example, bladder dysfunction can cause repeated urinary tract infections. Inactivity can result in loss of muscle tone and disuse weakness (not related to demyelination), poor postural alignment and trunk control, decreased bone density (and resulting increased risk of fracture), and shallow, inefficient breathing. Immobility can lead to pressure sores. While secondary symptoms can be treated, the optimal goal is to avoid them by treating the primary symptoms.\n\n\nTertiary symptoms of MS are the social, vocational and emotional complications associated with the primary and secondary symptoms. The diagnosis of a chronic illness can be damaging to self-esteem and self-image. A person who becomes unable to walk or drive may lose his or her livelihood. The strain of dealing with a chronic neurologic illness may disrupt personal relationships. People with MS frequently experience emotional changes as well, but it is important to note that mood swings and depression can occur as primary, secondary, or tertiary symptoms of the disease. Professional assistance from psychologists, social workers, physical and occupational therapists, and public health agencies is indicated for managing many of these psychosocial and vocational issues.\n\nIt is important to remember that not every person with MS experiences all of these symptoms. Some people may experience only one or two of them over the course of the disease, while others experience quite a few. Symptoms can come and go quite unpredictably, and no two people experience them in exactly the same way. Most of the symptoms of MS can be effectively managed, and complications avoided, with regular care by a neurologist and allied health professionals.
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Yes, it can.  :(\n\nMost people experience their first symptoms of MS between the ages of 20 and 40; the initial symptom of MS is often blurred or double vision, red-green color distortion, or even blindness in one eye.  Most MS patients experience muscle weakness in their extremities and difficulty with coordination and balance.  These symptoms may be severe enough to impair walking or even standing. In the worst cases, MS can produce partial or complete paralysis.  Most people with MS also exhibit paresthesias, transitory abnormal sensory feelings such as numbness, prickling, or "pins and needles" sensations.  Some may also experience pain.  Speech impediments, tremors, and dizziness are other frequent complaints. Occasionally, people with MS have hearing loss. Approximately half of all people with MS experience cognitive impairments such as difficulties with concentration, attention, memory, and poor judgment, but such symptoms are usually mild and are frequently overlooked.  Depression is another common feature of MS.
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Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is the yellow spice most familiar in Indian cooking and American prepared mustard. I recommend it for all inflammatory disorders and for autoimmune conditions, including MS. As you may know, MS begins with localized inflammatory damage to the myelin sheaths surrounding nerve fibers, due to an attack by the immune system. I recommend both turmeric and ginger, also a natural anti-inflammatory, for treatment of the inflammation that people with MS experience. Interesting results of laboratory research published in the June 15, 2002 issue of the Journal of Immunology suggest that turmeric may have more far-reaching effects for MS patients.\n\nInclusion body myositis (IBM) is a rare inflammatory muscular disorder that usually becomes apparent during adulthood. The disorder presents as slow progressive weakness and withering away (atrophy) of the muscles (myositis), especially of the arms and legs. Inclusion body myositis frequently is diagnosed when a patient is unresponsive to therapy prescribed for polymyositis.\n\nIBM is characterized by the gradual onset (over months or years) of muscle fatigue and weakness; a clear tendency to strike men more frequently than women; and affecting both the muscles closest to the body’s trunk (proximal) and those farthest from the trunk (distal). Onset is usually after age 50, although it may occur earlier.\n.
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MS itself physically causes depression.  I had had MS for 14 years before anyone told me that.  I've been on Buspar and Zoloft since then and  have not had major problems with depression.  \n\nBTW, I was diagnosed with MS in 1985.  I have never needed a wheelchair, but I do sometimes have to use a walker for stability.
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Yes..The most common symptoms of MS are-Fatigue(also called MS lassitude to differentiate it from the tiredness resulting from other causes),Problems with walking,Bowel and/or bladder disturbances,Visual Problems,Changes in cognitive function,including problems with memory,attention and problem-solving,Abnormal sensations such as numbness or"pins and needles",,Changes in sexual funtion,,Pain,Depression and/or mood swings..Less common symptoms include-Tremors,Incoordination,Speech and swallowing problems & Impaired hearing
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There are several new interferon drugs now available for treating MS. These drugs are injected and are very expensive but they are very helpful with getting into remission or maintaining a remission. Good luck to your cousin.\n\nhttp://www.nationalmssociety.org/Meds-InterferonBeta1aAvo.asp
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Yes, it is possible to have Multiple Sclerosis without lesions on an MRI. Other objective testing include spinal fluid examination for proteins commonly found in MS and Evoked Potentials of the eye(VER=Visual Evoked Response) and ear(BAER=Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response).
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I am female and now 49, and was diagnosed w/MS when I was about 24.  At the time I was diagnosed, there was no 'proof positive' test for MS.  I believe the best test now is the MRI.  \nDepending on your relationship with your PCP, I would try to explain about your concerns and possible sysptoms and that you would like to talk to a Neurologist; who would be the doctor to be treating you if you did in fact have MS.  \nThough, remember there are literally thousands of diseases connected to the nerves, and a lot of the symptoms are the same as MS.   \nAs for your concern about being diagnosed '...until it's nearly too late to do any good about it...'  there are no preventative drugs for MS.\nThere are 4 types of severity of MS, and each person can differ from one to another. Also even if family memebers have MS, it doesn't mean they will all have the save 'type' of MS.\nThe newer medications now on the market have been proven to 'keep' the disease in remission for longer and longer periods of time.  (It's been over 5 years for me now, and I contribute it to the new medication - so there is almost always 'something' the doctors are able to do to help with the symptoms.\nThe only real advice I will offer is not to get 'stressed' out by thinking about it. Talk to a Neurologist and get some information from the Hospital Library.  \nI really haven't heard of anyone actually 'dying' from MS, more from commplications of the disease.\nWhen I was diagnosed, I was told the 1st requirement for MS is: a sense of humor! And trust me that piece of advice has helped me through the years...
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MS??  Multiple sclerosis??  Well, multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system.  Autoimmune means that your body is basically attacking itself.  No... it's not transmitted through blood contact.
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Did you mean Multiple Sclerosis?\nNo cure yet...\n\nFYI : Syrosis is related to the liver. (Too much drinking. Alcohol/beer etc...).
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What Are Some Other Alternative/Complementary Therapy Options for MS?\n\nMassage. Many people with MS receive regular massage therapy to help relax and reduce stress and depression, which can exacerbate the disease. There is no evidence that massage changes the course of the disease. It is usually safe for people with MS to receive a massage, but if you have bone-thinning osteoporosis (usually as a result of your treatments) massage may be dangerous. Talk to your doctor first.   http://www.medicinenet.com/alternative_therapy_for_multiple_sclerosis/article.htm\n\nIt sounds like, with your doctor's blessing, it is something worth looking into.  If it is not beneficial, you can easily stop this type of therapy.  Good luck...
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Muscle symptoms—muscle weakness, leg dragging, stiffness, a tendency to drop things, a feeling of heaviness, clumsiness, or a lack of coordination. \nVisual symptoms—blurred, foggy, or hazy vision, eyeball pain (especially with movement), blindness, or double vision. Optic neuritis (a sudden loss of vision and eye pain) is a fairly common initial symptom, occurring in up to 23% of those who develop MS. 2 \nLess common early symptoms include:\n\nSensory symptoms—tingling, a pins-and-needles sensation, numbness, a bandlike tightness around the trunk or limbs, or electrical sensations moving down the back and limbs. \nBalance symptoms—lightheadedness or dizziness, and a spinning feeling (vertigo). \nAs MS progresses, symptoms may include stiff movement (spasticity), tremors, pain, difficulty controlling urination, depression, and difficulty thinking clearly (cognitive impairment).
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Here are link to two people who have MS:\nhttp://www.montelms.org/\nhttp://www.nationalmssociety.org/neil_cavuto.asp\n\nEmail me if you tomorrow when you've been to your doctors.  I have had a relative who had MS. Hopefully, it's something with a quick treatment and not MS.  There are new better treatments for MS every day.