Part 2
Multiple Sclerosis
Studies and Research
Multiple Sclerosis is the condition in which one’s own immune system attacks the myelin sheath of the central nervous system and deteriorates it. The myelin sheath is the protective covering of nerve fibers. It is important to have healthy myelin sheath that remains intact because without it, the nerves in your spinal cord cannot properly send messages from your central nervous system to your brain. It is like if you had a wire transporting electrical signals, but at some point along the way, that wire was stripped or cut. The message no longer gets sent, and that signal is lost. Your own body is attacking itself and there is no way to stop it.
Some cases are worse than others depending on how damaged the myelin sheath is. Once it gets destroyed, it cannot be repaired. Unfortunately, this means that the condition can only worsen over time, and there is nothing a body can do to fix itself. The severity of the deterioration that has occurred and the types of nerves affected will determine how prominent a person’s symptoms will be. Symptoms are experienced to all different degrees, but incorporate issues from head to toe within the body.
Lhermette’s Sign/Phenomenon is when shock-like sensations shoot down the neck and spine in a relatively painful manner. This is usually one of the first symptoms people report as this disabling shock can branch out into your arms, legs, and back. It is most commonly felt when your neck is bent forward in the position where your chin can touch your chest.
Tingling and complete loss of feeling in your limbs results in body numbness, causing much worse side effects. Numbness will inevitably lead to immense difficulty in walking, moving, and holding objects in your hands. It will also cause tremors and unsteady limbs.
Weakened muscles and muscle stiffness occurs, making muscular movements very hard to accomplish. Mobility becomes extremely limited. With this, canes or wheelchairs can be of use. Many struggle to stand up, walk up and down stairs, or even something as small as holding a pencil in your hand and writing on a piece of paper with it.
Movement of the eyes can cause pain and in worse cases, lack of vision, double vision, and blurriness. This effect may start in one eye and eventually affect the other. Due to sensory interaction, poor vision can lead to poor balance, since being able to see what is in front and around you helps aid in coordination.
Because of the extent of such nerve damage, one may also experience losing control of their bladder. It is not rare to find MS patients urinating on themselves without knowing. Sexual arousal and bowl movements may be affected as well.
All symptoms do not necessarily occur at the same time. With multiple sclerosis, people can experience recurring symptoms for a short period of time, as in weeks, or an extended amount of time, as in years. But for all, it is everlasting. They may experience times of relapse, when their physical state gets noticeable worse, or remission, where they are in a window of small, temporary recovery.
There are different kinds of multiple sclerosis. Primary-progressive MS is the trend of the progressively worsening conditions, with no early-on signs of relapsing or remission. There are different stages with PPMS, as one can be in an active state, where they may relapse, or an inactive state, where they are stable. In this case, the deterioration is not linear. However, the other kind is secondary-progressive MS, where your condition will only worsen. There is little to no chance that you will find yourself experiencing windows where your symptoms fluctuate. Your health will rapidly decline and it is unlikely for remission at any point. There is also relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), where it is characterized by continuous relapsing and larger, more serious attacks of MS symptoms. The average lifespan for those with PPMS is 41.4 years old, whereas for those with RRMS, it is 77.8 years old.
Every person experience multiple sclerosis differently. Age, gender, heredity, race, and other varying factors, like being a smoker, determine the severity of one’s condition. Interestingly enough, women are 2-3 times more likely to be diagnosed with RRMS than men. Multiple sclerosis is also the type of autoimmune disease where if another family member has it, you are at risk, and more likely to genetically develop it.
The National Multiple Sclerosis society has concluded that over 2.3 million people worldwide have this condition. Although it is easy to look at this like a statistic, it is crucial that we realize 2.3 million people is not just a number - they are 2.3 million families, 2.3 million lives, 2.3 million stories, and 2.3 million people suffering each day. The ones with the illness are not the only ones being devastatingly affected. These people are parents, brothers and sisters, children, friends, and coworkers. In my family’s case, my uncle has two young children who are not even teenagers yet. Taking care of kids is a job itself, especially young ones who need proper guidance and attention. It is any parent’s best wish to do anything for their children, but what happens when that ability is compromised by something that cannot be controlled? Multiple sclerosis is not just a change to one’s body, but a lifestyle adaptation too. Those with jobs may have to quit due to the inability to work, or, are at high risk for being fired for the same reason. Employment discrimination due to disabilities is unfortunately very common. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report that in 2019, 66.3% of non-disabled people were employed, and only decreasing to 61.8% in 2020. However, in 2019, only 19.3% of disabled people were employed, and decreased down to 17.9% in 2020. You can see where unemployment will become a problem for those who are chronically ill. With an increased number of doctor or hospital visits, their medical bills are likely to be skyrocketing. Other life luxuries such as driving a vehicle are restricted. The activities and daily occurrences we do not think twice about are heavily compromised for those struggling with multiple sclerosis.
