Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

Introduction

Multiple sclerosis (MS)

Multiple sclerosis is one of the most common neurological conditions among young adults. An MS specialist nurse explains how to recognise early symptoms and where to get help.

Are you affected by multiple sclerosis?

The University of Warwick is doing research on how people affected by MS use the internet to seek other people's experiences and share their own. Taking part in this research would involve a single telephone interview of about an hour. For more information visit the website or contact the researchers directly at: ipex@warwick.ac.uk

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurological condition in young adults in the UK, affecting around 100,000 people.

There are three main types of MS:

relapsing remitting MS
secondary progressive MS
primary progressive MS

About the disease

MS is a condition of the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). The central nervous system controls the body's actions and activities, such as movement and balance.

Each nerve fibre in the central nervous system is surrounded by a substance called myelin. Myelin helps messages from the brain to travel quickly and smoothly to the rest of the body.

In MS, the myelin becomes damaged. This disrupts the transfer of these messages.

Who is affected

MS can occur at any age, but symptoms are mostly first seen between the ages of 20 and 40. Women are more than twice as likely to develop MS as men.

Outlook

MS is a lifelong condition, but it is not terminal. Most people with MS can expect to live as long as someone without the condition. However, a minority of patients (about 20%) with MS have a considerably shortened life.

Last reviewed: 29/01/2010

Next review due: 29/01/2012

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1 Comments about ‘Multiple Sclerosis’

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Templeknight7 said on 22 May 2011

I would disagree with your statement that MS is not a terminal disease as would the 20% of people with MS who " have a considerably shortened life"
The reason for the general misconception about the teminal nature of MS is found in the fact that :-"Routine mortality statistics are usually based on identifying a single cause for each death. This is the 'underlying cause of death', defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as:

a) the disease or injury which initiated the train of events directly leading to death or
b) the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury

So the disease which initiated the train which directly leads to death is recorded as a respiratory problem (usually aspiration pneumonia ) or a urinary tract infection. As both of these are actuallt secondary to MS it makes more sense for cause of death to be recorded was an event secondary to multiple sclerosis which should be recorded as the primary cause. This would make life a lot easier for MS patients trying desperately to meet continuing healthcare criteria for the purpose of ecieving funded care.

Introduction