Battling Multiple Sclerosis

By Sharon A Bell

In some people, it is a mild illness. In others, it can lead to permanent disability. This is the nature of multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable disease that affects 300,000 people in the United States alone.

Myelin is a fatlike substance that covers the nerve fiber found in the brain and spinal cord. It is an essential part of the nervous system since it enables the nerves to carry electrical impulses to and from the brain where they can be acted upon by the appropriate part of the body.

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By Robert Groth

Introduction to Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is known to affect more than 250,000 people world wide and 400,000+ people in the United States of America alone! This disease affects more women than men, and most people show the first signs of this degenerative disease between 20 to 40 years of ages.

A chronic and potentially incapacitating disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affects the central nervous system or the brain and spinal cord areas in your body. Believed to be an autoimmune disorder, MS is a condition where the patient’s immune system produces antibodies against their own body.

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By Robert Groth

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that affects your central nervous system. It is believed to be an autoimmune disease, a condition in which your immune system attacks parts of your body as if they’re foreign. These attacks may be linked to environmental factors such as viruses.

In multiple sclerosis, the body mistakenly attacks the myelin sheath, a fatty substance that insulates nerve cells, or neurons, in your brain or spinal cord. This myelin sheath helps the neurons to carry electrical signals carrying information between parts of the body. These electrical signals are also how the brain controls the rest of the body. The interference with the signals results in a variety of symptoms.

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By Robert Groth

There are several recognized risk factors in Multiple Sclerosis, although there is not a definite known cause. These risk factors do not guarantee that you will be diagnosed with the disease, but they do increase your chances.

Heredity is the first of the known risk factors for Multiple Sclerosis. If no one has Multiple Sclerosis in your family, then your chances of having MS are only 1 in 750. Having a parent or sibling with MS increases the odds to 1 in 100. If you have an identical twin with MS, your chances are 1 in 4, although both twins do not always have MS. For this reason, many researchers believe that Multiple Sclerosis is not just a genetic disease, although heredity does affect the chances you will have it.

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By Robert Groth

The year was 1989. I was then 17, about to graduate from high school in a few months. During those last few weeks leading up to graduation, I felt like I practically held the world in my hands. I was invincible! After all, I didn’t have any problems being accepted in a special program for arts and music at St. Olaf College, as I have been playing the oboe with great success from sixth grade all through high school. It seemed to be my destiny – and at that time, my future looked so bright.

That year, I spent one of the most fantastic holidays ever with my parents, my two sisters, and my three-month-old baby brother. Shortly after Christmas, however, I realized how vulnerable and mortal I was, after all.

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