Coping With Multiple Sclerosis

Last year, Shannon Hugley assembled building structures and installed steel beams, assisting the Tristate Construction Company in manufacturing the new dorms at George Mason University. Today, not even a sprint through the park is that simple.

Shannon Hugley, 22, is a victim of multiple sclerosis. Diagnosed at the age 20, he has developed very few of the symptoms over the past two years.

“It started off with severe headaches," said Hugley. “Eventually, I began to experience uncomfortable muscle spasms, and I knew there was something wrong."

Multiple Sclerosis is a continual neurological disability that is usually diagnosed in early adulthood. According to www.mamashealth.com, the disease can affect any area of the brain as well as the spinal cord.

Like Hugley, most people who are diagnosed are between the ages of 20 and 50 and twice as many women as men have MS.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), there were approximately 700,000 visits in 1999 and 2000, which included the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Within the same time period, 24,000 annual hospitalizations listed MS as the first diagnosis, and females accounted for 75 percent.

During the year 2000, there were 2, 840 adult deaths due to multiple sclerosis.

Respectively, in that same year, the death rate amongst adult women was substantially higher than for adult men, with 1.9 versus 1.2 per 100,000.

According to WEBMD, research has proven that women with MS are more likely to have a variation of a gene that produces high levels of a protein called, interferon gamma. This protein can intensify MS by promoting inflammation and tissue damage.

Commonly, studies have shown that the risk of Multiple Sclerosis in African Americans is approximately half that of Caucasian Americans, and is particularly rare in Africans.

In 2003, the MS Genetics Group, a multi-center consortium, reported preliminary results, to compare the clinical characteristics of African Americans with Caucasians—at the American Academy.

To further investigate these studies, the group is currently collecting clinical information and DNA from African-American patients and their families, and comparing them to those of Caucasian Americans.

While MS does affect the transmission of electrical signals to nerve cells, it does not affect the nerve cells themselves.

The exact cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown. Researchers believe that MS is an inflammatory process that attacks a substance in the nervous system called myelin.

Myelin surrounds the cells in the nervous system and “facilitates rapid transmission of signals up and down neurons." Once the myelin is broken down, the nerve impulses decrease in speed, which creates the symptoms—that are characteristics of Multiple Sclerosis.

While the disease is more commonly geared towards individuals with northern European ancestry—Africans, Asians, and Hispanics are not immune.

According to www.msneighborhood,com, a service of priority healthcare, another adult in the US is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis every hour.

Approximately 400,000 Americans currently have MS, and every week about 200 more are diagnosed, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. There are roughly 2.5 million individuals worldwide

Though anyone may develop the disease, according to the NCHS, research has shown reoccurring patterns in some instances.

Studies have indicated that genetic factors make certain individuals more predisposed, but there is no evidence that proves the disease is directly inherited.

Multiple Sclerosis is characterized by attacks or exacerbations, which may be associated with plaques that avoid transmission of nerve impulses in the CNS, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Watch. This period of exacerbation is also known as relapse.

Individuals living with MS are affected with some level of disability, but the effect of the disease differs per person depending on the site of inflammation.

While the symptoms may fluctuate and progress in severity, there are slight chances that lesions can still be forming in the CNS, undetected.

“Symptoms of MS are unpredictable," said Alayne Bell, Program Manager of the National MS Society. “Sometimes major symptoms disappear completely, and the person regains lost functions."

Bell elaborated by adding how one individual could experience abnormal fatigue and episodes of numbness and tingling, while another person could have loss of balance and muscle coordination making walking a very difficult task.

“My boyfriend’s mother has MS and lost her sight, speech, and is unable to walk," said Foot Locker employee Shavonne Smittie. “Now, she needs to use a wheel chair to get around.

“The only symptom that I have obtained is loss of balance with occasional shaking," Hugley added. “And I’m taking medicine to prevent future attacks."

Multiple Sclerosis causes symptoms and indications that differ erratically over decades—and may relapse, progress or endure impulsive remission.

Men may experience erectile dysfunction, while women may possibly encounter loss of libido or difficulty reaching an orgasm. The attacks can last up to 24 hours.

In severe cases of multiple sclerosis, people acquire permanent symptoms including “partial or complete paralysis, difficulties of vision, cognition, speech, and elimination." Symptoms may generate by exercising, physical exertion, or with increased body temperatures.

“I exercise everyday to stay in shape," said Hugley. “As long as I don’t over do it, I’ll be okay."

Once the symptoms are prompted by increased body temperatures, they often die down when the body temperature is returned to normal.

The majority of individuals living with MS continue living fairly normal lives, but the facts are unpredictable.

“The National MS Society assists individuals that are diagnosed so that they are better equipped to face the changes that the disease can bring," Bell insisted. “MS is not fatal, most people with MS have a normal or near-normal life expectancy, and the majority of people with MS do not become severely disabled."

In few cases, MS becomes so maliciously progressive, that it turns out to be life-threatening. Individuals with the disease do encounter a normal or near-normal life expectancy, however severe MS can shorten life.

The age-adjusted death rate for MS among U.S. adults has increased by more than 25 percent over the past two decades, according to the NCHS. In the year 2000, the death rate was 1.6 per 100,000 adults.

The death rate was also similar for whites and blacks—1.7 versus 1.6 per 100,000, in the year 2000 as well.

A cure for multiple sclerosis has not yet been established. According to Bell, there are currently medications approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that have been shown to slow down the primary course of the disease.

According to the MS Watch, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has collected millions of dollars in Society research grants to support scientists at renowned institutions—such as Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco.

These researchers are primarily focusing on projects in “genetics, immunology, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, and the biology of glial cells."

By using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), neurologists can track, the effect that drug therapy has on the development, or lack of, new lesions.

Although many therapeutic strategies and technological advances are helping individuals manage their symptoms, the ability to diagnose Multiple Sclerosis in living patients remains a challenge till this day.