Multiple Sclerosis - Let's Learn More!

Multiple Sclerosis - Let's Learn More!

What it is

Multiple sclerosis, often abbreviated by the letters MS (MS) is a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord. In MS, the coating that protects your nerves (myelin) is damaged. This causes a range of symptoms like blurred vision and problems with how we move think and feel.

How many are affected

There’s no national or global registry for new MS cases. Known figures are only estimates. Nearly 1 million people in the United States are affected by MS. More than 130,000 people in the UK have MS. It’s estimated that more than 2.8 million people are living with MS worldwide.

Who is affected
People are most likely to find out they have MS in their thirties, forties and fifties. But the first signs of MS often start years earlier. Many people notice their first symptoms years before they get their diagnosis.

MS affects almost three times as many women as men. People from many different ethnic backgrounds can get MS. It is a relentless disease with many types. You cannot ‘catch’ MS from other people.

Types of MS
There are relapsing-remitting and progressive types of MS, but the course is rarely predictable. Researchers still don’t fully understand the cause of MS or why the rate of progression is so difficult to determine. Currently, there is a lot of research going on to study MS.

There are several types of MS, including:

• Clinically isolated syndrome: The first episode of neurologic symptoms before a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

• Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS): The most common form of the disease; symptoms are experienced in flare-ups (or relapses) with full recovery (remission) between attacks

• Secondary progressive MS (SPMS): A later stage of the disease where there is a steady worsening of symptoms between patches of good health

• Primary progressive MS (PPMS): Starts as a steady decline without remission or relapse

• Tumefactive MS: An atypical form of the disease that causes “tumour-like” lesions

• Pediatric MS: A rare form of the disease that affects children and adolescents

Diagnostic criteria for MS vary by provider. Presentation of symptoms, several lesions on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and evidence of damage to the central nervous system are all considered when making a diagnosis.

A substance called myelin protects the nerve fibres in the central nervous system, which helps messages travel quickly and smoothly between the brain and the rest of the body. In MS, your immune system, which normally helps to fight off infections, mistakes myelin for a foreign body and attacks it. This damages the myelin and strips it off the nerve fibres, either slightly or completely, leaving scars known as lesions or plaques.

This damage disrupts messages travelling along nerve fibres – they can slow down, become distorted, or not get through at all. As well as losing the myelin, there can sometimes be damage to the actual nerve fibres too. It's this nerve damage that causes the increase in disability that can occur over time.

This can affect many different areas of the person:-

• Eyes, with vision problems. loss of vision, blurriness, difficulty focusing

• Balance - vertigo, dizziness and spinning sensations

• Fatigue, sudden extreme tiredness

• Muscles - cramping, extreme pain, tingling, loss of function, difficulty walking, lifting

• Memory and thinking - difficulties retrieving memories and information, cognitive functions

• Emotions - varied emotional feelings and sensations

• Societal relationships - feelings of being an outcast, different, useless

Stress Reduction Strategies

You cannot tell if a person has MS just by looking. It is an invisible disease.

Resources:-

What is MS? https://youtu.be/RaSD7FnsSDs 

https://www.singlecare.com/blog/news/multiple-sclerosis-statistics/ 

https://www.mssociety.org.uk/about-ms/what-is-ms

Add or Remove yourself from the taglist here
https://www.7cups.com/forum/disabilities/WeeklyCheckin_1053/NewTaglistDisabilitySupport_202464/  

Tag;ist:- @777Bre777 @adaptableOcean4193 @adaptablePomegranate1587 @adequatelyInadequate @adventurousBranch3786 @AffyAvo @agreeableTurtle1021 @AguaNector6700 @amusingTalker1267 @Aqua1494 @Arsalanahmed @Ashleylovescats @AttentiveEar @audienta @AutiBoy @Averayne93 @azuladragon34 @BacktotheTrail @BeyondTheInvisible @BlindGrapefruit @blissfulTouch29 @Bndonovan02 @bouncyBreeze44 @bouncyVoice4149 @Breezy2013 @CaringBrit @CheeryPotato @CheerySandi @ChildGoddessFlute @Chloe1644 @cinnamoncocoa @CocoaCassie @Colorfulcatsofhope @considerateBunny7436 @Countrygirl095 @crystallizedrequiem @Daisy7cups @DichotomousDetia @disneymoonlight @Disneywoman @DoISayIt @DonaldK @DylanMark @Edobre399 @Emiliako @emotionalTalker2260 @enthusiasticOwl866 @enthusiasticTortoise6681 @fairmindedWater1140 @Fireskye13 @FrenchMarbles @friendlyEars8792 @goldenSpruce1512 @IcedCoffee211109 @IndigoWhisper @InfiniteThoughts2k19 @Jamesjones10123 @Jewels012222 @jovialButterfly6752 @JoyfulUnicorn @JoyIntoDarkness @K87 @kenzixo @killaj0ule @Kittibear @KuhnDisabled101 @kwheelz @lightTriangle7748 @LikeABirdWithoutWings @lovelycoacoa @lovelySun2900 @LoveMyRotty @magnifiedfaith @ManinblacK @MartianGirl347 @MeaningfulSilence @Meowsicle @MistyMagic @mnhtx3 @modestHickory2783 @modestOcean1286 @moosprbrk @MyNameIsNicole @NaomiR @NevaehRose @NotKhan2 @NovaIsNB @OneErased @PerfectHarmony10 @philosophicalAcai7803 @pinkbunnywabbit @Pixiechu @placidMoth @Plantsaremybestfriends @Poppia @PotFullOfSky2020 @rainbowVibes @Raysofsunshineandrainbow2005 @redGrapes1822 @Redheadmadeofglitter94 @repen13 @reservedCat9143 @RiggsMortis @sabeyesofblue3535 @Seachele @SmolBurrahobbit12 @SparklyCat @specialPurple1582 @StarsOrchidsOwls @stuffiessytem @sunshinegiraffe123 @theboymoana @TimidBear @TomatoEmi @turquoiseHemlock900 @u2canwin @wahmbrenda @Walker7957 @WeedyGarden @wishfulWillow6962 @WishUponAStar968 @wonderfulRainbow817 @xandia @Xisle @Zed786