What is MS
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system.
Symptoms may run the gamut from slight blurring of vision to complete
paralysis. It is not contagious, and it is rarely fatal. But it is unpredictable.
An estimated third of a million Americans have multiple sclerosis.
The most typical pattern of MS is marked by periods of active disease
or attacks, called exacerbations or relapses, followed by quiet periods
called remissions.
Some people have few attacks and little if any disability over time.
Others have what is called "relapsing-remitting" disease. This means they
have exacerbations, which take place unpredictably, followed by periods
of partial or total remission, which may last months or even years. Still
others experience a "chronic-progressive" disease course with steadily
worsening symptoms and no attacks or remissions. Thus, the disease
ranges from very mild to intermittent to steadily progressive.
Because MS affects individuals so differently, it is difficult to make
generalizations about the extent of disability any one person may sustain.
Statistics suggest that two out of three people with MS remain ambulatory
over their lifetimes, but many of them will need a cane or other assistive
device.
MS most often strikes people who are in their twenties or thirties
young adults who are just starting their lives. Women develop it at a rate
more than double that of men.
The disease is most frequently found among people in colder climates.
Scientists don't understand why this is so, but studies strongly suggest
that where a person was born and lived during his of her first fifteen
years strongly influences the likelihood of developing MS.
Studies also indicate that genetic factor make certain individuals
more susceptible to the disease, but there is no evidence that MS is
directly inherited.
MS is not always easy to detect or diagnose because symptoms tend
to come and go, because other diseases of the central nervous system
have some of the same warning signs, and because no single neurological
or laboratory test can definitively confirm or rule out MS. Thus people
may be told they have "probable" or "possible" MS.
Recent advances in medical imaging, particularly
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technology, are helping to
clarify diagnosis. To make a conclusive or definitive diagnosis,
two factors must be shown: there must be evidence of many patches
of scar tissue in different parts of the central nervous system,
and a there must have been at least two separate exacerbations of the
disease. A definite diagnosis can take several months. Sometimes it takes years.
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