Our state ranks near the top of states with people with MS -- those that know they have it and those who don't. This specially designated month provides opportunities to get the word out on what MS is, what it can do to you and possibly bring people with symptoms to doctors for early treatment.
The first signs of MS appear to be somewhat normal, temporary inconveniences: some tingling in your arms or legs -- as if they were asleep or maybe you feel a sharp pain or just the opposite and there's no feeling at all -- just a numbness that won't go away or maybe your vision is blurred or your speech is slurred or you have never ending fatigue.
For most people these symptoms will just go away or be resolved with medication or other treatments. However, for over 400,000 men, women and children in our country (18,000 in Ohio, 2.5 million in the world), what they are experiencing are the first signs of MS -- a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord and optic nerves). In simplistic terms, it damages the myelin sheath covering nerves causing, in effect, a short-circuiting of the nerve and the service that nerve provides the body.
Those with MS experience a wide range of temporary and/or permanent damage. It sometimes attacks, does some damage and then goes away. This type is called "Relapsing-Remitting." This form makes it difficult to know if a particular treatment is actually working -- did the treatment work or did the MS just go into remission? Another type is "Progressive-Relapsing" with the person gradually getting worse with each new attack. And then there is "Primary (or Secondary) Progressive" which never goes into remission, getting ever worse, taking more and more functions from its victims. MS affects men, women and children although women are twice as likely to get MS as men.
Since there is such a wide range of symptoms with MS, it's sometimes called the "invisible disease" especially with those with "Relapsing-Remitting" who do not seem to be afflicted, even while dealing with the residual damage already done to their bodies and their lives. MS with the changing nature and timing of its various attacks brings it and ever present uncertainty -- literally never knowing from day to day how you will be -- and to make plans is to accept they may have to be changed due to possible new attacks.
It's estimated that MS related health care costs are 10 billion a year. While there is no cure, significant advances have been made to treat its symptoms and to slow its progression. The sooner a diagnosis can be made, the sooner treatment can be started to hold the effects of MS at bay at least for a while.
Besides trying to make people aware of MS, March also provides an opportunity to thank everyone that has donated to MS funding directly or through events such as "The Walk for MS" or "Petal to the Point" both of which have raised millions over the years for research and other help. Thanks to this research there are now more drugs available than ever to treat symptoms as a vaccine and cure are sought.
I'm confident we can beat MS. Until then the fight goes on -- fought by those with MS and their families -- and those like you who read words like mine and care enough to help those with the disease with good thoughts, prayers, donations and most of all, love.
Ohio Buckeye Chapter
National MS Society (800-667-7131)