MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Multiple Sclerosis- General Information

Multiple Sclerosis was tracked in Holland by a physician in the 1940’s. This disease affects the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system). Myelin, which supplies insulation for nerves, ameliorates the conductivity of impulses and it is also essential for maintaining the healthy nerves. If you are suffering from this illness the inflammation will cause the myelin to deteriorate and eventually vanish. Therefore, the impulses that circulate along the nerves slow down. In the next stage, the nerves are directly harmed. When a large amount of nerves are affected, the diseased person experiences a continuous interference with functions such as walking, speech, memory and vision (all controlled by the central nervous system). In the U.S there are about 270,000 to 360,000 people with this disease. This disease is likely to appear in people between 21 and 45 years old but there have been cases of teenage patients or even patients in their 60's. The Multiple Sclerosis is more possible to affect Caucasians and especially young women. Its cause is still not detected. In the last decades, researchers studied the genetics and immune system in order to find an explanation. The immune system, as it is the protector of the body, reacts to any aggressor of unknown objects but this reaction depends upon fast communication among the cells that will destroy the aggressor and the immune cells. In Multiple Sclerosis, a certain virus or gene may cause the immune system to attack myelin.

Multiple Sclerosis- Symptoms

The symptoms of multiple sclerosis disease are single or multiple and they can vary in intensity from mild to severe and in duration from short too long. The first evidence is the visual perturbation: double vision, blurred, red-green deformation, blindness. Secondly, you may experience muscle weakness which will cause trouble with balance and coordination. The most common symptoms are still tremors, attention shortage, dizziness, speech handicap and hearing loss. More than 55% of sufferers deal with mental changes like reduction of concentration, attention and judgment impediments and even memory loss. Other symptoms involve paranoia, depression or an immediate need to laugh. As the sickness worsens, the sufferers may go through no bladder control or sexual dysfunction. All these symptoms are intensified by heat but the patients can find comfort with cold long baths. When pregnant, the number of attacks is smaller. The typical symptoms remain fatigue (which consists of sleepiness, drowsiness, mental fatigue), heat sensibility, spasticity (it affects the muscular tissues of arms and legs) impaired thinking (this may lead to impossibility of performing the tasks of daily routine), abnormal sensations (itching, stabbing, burning, numbness), vision problems, speech and swallowing difficulties (caused by deteriorated nerves), tremors and walking problems. It is vital to realize that even if there is a broad range of symptoms which can appear, a certain person may live only a few of them.

Multiple Sclerosis- Treatment

The most common treatment for Multiple Sclerosis is chemotherapy. Generally it refers to using cell-killing (potent cytotoxic) agents also recommended for treating cancer. These medicines destroy tumor cells but they can also affect the normal ones, usually those that divide fast (intestinal and hair cells, white and red blood cells). The reason for using chemotherapy to cure Multiple Sclerosis is that this disease is autoimmune and, this way, it should slow down the destruction of the immune system. In October 2000, mitoxantrone was approved to be used for treating this disorder as it reduces neurological handicap and the frequency of clinical recidivism in sufferers with progressive-relapsing, secondary-progressive or relapsing-remitting forms of the disease. This was the first drug accepted in U.S and, at the beginning, the tolerability and safety was satisfying. The most common side effects were hair loss, urinary infections, nausea and menstrual troubles. But this applies to a short period of administration because on long-term its safety is questionable. There were cases of cardiac toxicity so Novatrone is recommended to patients with normal cardiac rhythm and they should take a total cumulative dose of 13 mg/m2 once in three months. Even so, the risk of intoxication grows with every dose and cardiac failure can happen anytime. You can even experience AML (acute myelogenous leukemia). However, there are other chemotherapeutic agents that can be used although their use is controversial.

Azathioprine: oppresses the immune system but it provides slow progression; on the other hand, it causes anemia, nausea and it can finally lead to leukemia.
Cladribine : it does not offer clinical benefit and the patients experienced side effects like infections and myelin damage
Cyclophosphamide: in the best case, there can be a small benefit from the administration of this drug. Side effects include nausea, hair loss, infections and bladder problems.
Cyclosporine-A: it reduces rejection in transplantations and it has a certain action against T cells. As it is known, these are active during Multiple Sclerosis and scientists started to make some tests. They kept under observation almost 650 women and men for two and a half years. The results showed that this medicine slows the rate of Multiple Sclerosis without any important side effects.
Methotrexate: it prevents animal Multiple Sclerosis. Is does not have much effect on people.
Avonex: it carries a small risk of disablement progression and it showed a reduction in size and number of active wounds in the nervous system.

As Multiple Sclerosis is different from one patient to another and for the same person over time, each treatment needs to be carefully selected by a team of specialists and there should always be a permanent relation between the patient and the doctor. Considering all these, it is clear that there is no general accepted cure for this disorder but there are different phases available in order to change the evolution of the disease, to treat and to deal with symptoms and finally to ameliorate a patients condition. This way, specialists can heighten the life for sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis.

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MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Multiple Sclerosis- General Information

Multiple Sclerosis- Symptoms

Multiple Sclerosis- Treatment

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