Essay on A Life with Multiple Sclerosis

Blood work- To see if her thyroid hormone was within hormone levels because thyroid is a risk factor of MS. I would also check her fasting glucose. Also to rule out other diseases that mimic MS.

Having the disease multiple sclerosis can affect one's life tremendously. In the essay, "On Being A Cripple", the author Nancy Mairs suffers from the disease and has a love-hate relationship with it. Socially, it appears that although Mairs has the disease, she accepts it and does normal things like going on vacations with her family. However, personally, it's hard for her at times and she gets into a depressed state and wishes she didn't have the disease when she has a falling or an incident. Multiple Sclerosis, also referred to as “MS”, is a disease that can affect one's brain, spinal cord, and eyes.

MS is usually occurs at age of 15 to 55 with the average onset at about 30 years of age. Women are twice more likely than men to develop this debilitating autoimmune disease (Love, 2006). Due to the heterogeneity of the disease, where it can affects many sites of the CNS such as the brain cortex, brainstem, spinal cord as well as the optic nerve, thus the clinical symptoms of MS are widely ranged.

The difference between having MS and not having it is that your body will not have scars or hardened tissues which effects the CNS. Affecting the CNS is massive as it is your brain and your spinal cord which makes all the decisions for your nervous system and without a fully functioning CNS, the person will have all the effects that was said in the previous paragraph (the effects of MS) which were things like not able to walk properly, numbness and the persons eyesight becoming

1. Main point 2: So now that I have talked about what MS is, let us continue on to what the symptoms are and how it can be diagnosed. In most cases, the symptoms generally appear between the ages of 20 and 40 and affect more than twice as many women as men. Common indicators of MS are fatigue, dizziness, numbness and tingling, weakness, blurred vision, heat sensitivity, slurred speech, problems with memory and concentration, loss of balance and more. Sometimes the symptoms disappear completely and the person regains lost functions or sometimes a change in their life causes the symptoms to resurface and return stronger than ever. In my observations, my Dads’ MS is strongest in hot weather and during times of high stress. The symptoms normally vary from person to person, which makes it hard to diagnose. There are currently no lab tests that can be done to rule out or confirm MS, but MRI’s can help reach a strong diagnosis. MS is not considered a fatal disease, but many people struggle to live as productively as they desire, often facing many limitations.

No single test detects MS, which makes it difficult to diagnose. Symptoms can mimic those of a number of other conditions and they can change depending on the area of the central nervous system that

Multiple Sclerosis, commonly known as MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Scientists have been studying MS since the 19th century. In MS, the body’s immune system produces cells and antibodies that attack myelin in your brain which is essential for the nerves in your brain and spinal cord to conduct electricity to perform its function. The attack on myelin results in vison loss, paralysis, numbness, muscle weakness, difficulty walking, stiffness, spasms, and bladder and bowel problems. MS has varying degrees of severity and affects people between the ages of 20-50, mostly women. Although there are treatments, there is no cause and cure yet.

Multiple Sclerosis is caused by chromosome 6. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues. Symptoms of this disorder include numbness or weakness in one or more limbs typically on one side of the body or the legs, partial or complete loss of vision, tingling or pain in parts of your body, slurred speech, and dizziness.

Two to three more women than men have been diagnosed with MS and most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50.

However, some MS symptoms can be silent as the disease continues to progress, which makes treatment immediately after diagnosis highly important to reduce lesions sites and number caused by scarring to myelin tissue, dubbed plaques- which is where the name MS originated from (many scars). These scare can be detected and monitored through MRIs. (MSAA)

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the Central Nervous System, which interferes with the communication between the Central Nervous System (brain and spinal cord) and other parts of the body. The immune system attacks the myelin on the nerve fibers; resulting in damaged myelin that forms sclerosis. Overtime, many nerve fibers and myelin sheath will be damaged or even destroyed, resulting in the nerve impulse being interrupted. MS can be mild, moderate, or severe, therefore, it may cause disability as well as death. Interestingly enough, more women are affected than men. Common signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis include: fatigue, difficulties with walking (gait), spasticity, numbness/tingling, weakness, vision problems, pain, vertigo, depression, emotional changes, cognitive changes, bladder/bowel problems, and sexual problems. Less common signs and symptoms include: speech/swallowing problems, seizures, tremor, breathing problems, headache, pruritus, and hearing loss. There a four different types of Multiple Sclerosis: Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), Secondary Progressive MS (SPMS), Primary-progressive MS (PPMS), and Progressive-relapsing MS (PRMS). Relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis is the most common type of MS; about 85% of people are diagnosed with this type of Multiple Sclerosis. Relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis is characterized by worsening neurologic function attacks throughout the disease. The attacks are also known

Multiple sclerosis, also known as MS, is one of humankind’s most mysterious diseases. No one knows the exact cause and there is no exact treatment. Still multiple sclerosis has the ability to affect nearly 3 million people worldwide and at least 500,000 people in the United States (Boroch). This disease tends to be more common in individuals of northern European descent and women are more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis as men. Of those 3 million people, most of them are between the ages of 20 and 50 years old (Dangond). Even though multiple sclerosis is a mystery disease, scientists are working to determine the exact cause and treatment.

There is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis (Mayo Clinic, 2017). Most treatment is focused on improving quality of life by treating symptoms and slowing its progression. There are a few drugs to help slow progression, most of which are for relapsing-remitting MS (Mayo Clinic, 2017). In March of this year, the FDA approved the first drug for primary-progressive MS (FDA, 2017), called ocrelizumab, which slows the advancement of disability (Mayo Clinic, 2017). Ocrelizumab may cause infusion related reactions, such as hives, shortness of breath, fever, etc, and may lead to an upper respiratory tract infection (FDA, 2017). Acute relapses are treated with corticosteroids to reduce nerve inflammation, a traditional and approved method of treatment. (NIH, 2013). To treat symptoms, those with MS may go to physical therapy to help strengthen muscles and manage gait problems (Mayo Clinic, 2017). They may also use muscle relaxers to treat extremely painful

     Anyone can develop MS, but many patients share the following characteristics. The majority experiences their first symptoms between ages 20 and 40. Caucasians are more than twice as likely as other races to develop MS. MS is two to three times more common in women as in men.

Other symptoms include spasms. One spasm is known as the “drop foot.” A person could be casually walking and suddenly, his or her foot can basically shut down and drop. Spasms usually result in muscle stiffness and uncontrollable jerk-movements, according to Healthline Editorial Team, George Krucik, MD, MBA , Early Signs of Multiple Sclerosis, January 25, 2013. Another common symptom would be fatigue. This fatigue remains constant due to the deterioration of the central nervous system. With fatigue also comes muscle weakness, loss of motion and touch, which mostly occurs in the hands and legs. A few other symptoms include short-term memory loss, slurred speech,