Every hour of every day, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic and progressive disease of the central nervous system. While severity, symptoms and the course of the disease vary from person to person, one thing remains constant: a diagnosis of MS is not the catastrophic blow it used to be. Recent advances in the treatment of MS have dramatically brightened the future of the approximate 400,000 people with the disease in America.
In MS, your immune system mistakenly attacks myelin, a fatty substance that insulates your nerves and helps them communicate. Over time, this typically leads to scarring (such as sclerosis or lesions) and hardening of nerve tissue in the spinal cord, brain and eyes. These lesions can cause symptoms such as pain and weakness in the extremities, among other issues.
Most people are diagnosed with MS between the ages of 20 and 50, and women are three times more likely to develop MS than men. While the primary cause of MS remains a mystery, risk factors include Ethnicity (Caucasians of northern European ancestry more common); Family History (If relative has MS, your chances are 2% higher to develop the disease; Climate (Tropical weather less likely than harsher locales); Viruses (Outbreak of of shingles can quadruple the risk of developing MS); and Vitamin D (Lower levels of vitamin D can increase the likelihood of developing MS.
Symptoms and Complications Common early stage signs of MS include vision problems, muscle weakness, stiffness and spasms; limb numbness and tingling; coordination and balance problems and fatigue typically lead to eye pain, depression, cognitive difficulty, swallowing trouble and slurred speech, urinary and bowel issues and sexual dysfunction.
