Multiple sclerosis?

[Jennifer T]

Can anyone give me information on diagnosis, progression, prognosis, and especially any personal anecdotes? (not antidotes...anecdotes=stories) ;-)

[i a]

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disorder in which patches of myelin and underlying nerve fibers in the eyes, brain, and spinal cord are damaged or destroyed.The term "multiple sclerosis" refers to the may areas of scarring (sclerosis) that result from loss or destruction of myelin.The cause of MS is unknown, but a likely explanation is that a virus or some unknown antigen somehow triggers a reaction directed against the body's own tissues, usually early in life. Heredity seems to have a role in MS. Environment also has a role.The symptoms of MS vary greatly, from person to person and from time to time in one person, depending on which nerve fibers are destroyed. MS may progress and regress unpredictably. Common early symptoms include tingling, numbness, pain, burning, and itching in the arms, legs, trunk, or face and loss of strength or dexterity in a leg or hand.Because the symptoms vary widely, doctors may not recognize the disorder in its early stages. No single test is diagnostic, but laboratory tests can help doctors distinguish MS from other disorders that produce similar symptoms, such as AIDS, and lupus.

[Voelven]

Symptoms of MS are varied and early ones may include fatigue, numbness, pins and needles, optical neuritis. More severe symptoms can include partial paralyzation, bladder control problems, sexual dysfuntion, cognitive problems, plus a host of other symptoms.Diagnosis is usually done by first ruling out every other cause. My first exacerbation was numbness/pins and needles in the left half of my face and I was checked for nerve infections, borreliosis and then had an EEG to check for abnomalities in my brain waves. When all of these came out clear, I was sent for an MRI, which showed three lesions in my brain, one on the nerve controlling the left half of the face. That it was MS was quite obvious then, but I still had a lumbar puncture, which confirmed the dianosis.Progression varies from person to person, and on the type of MS the person has. Most neurologist will not even give a tentative progression prognosis until after the first 5-10 years of diagnosis. The first 5 years can often be used as an indicator of the disease's progression, but even then nothing is written in stone.Prognosis again depends on the individual person, but in general things have been looking up for MS patients since the release of MS-controlling drugs in the late 90s. Statistics show that MS patients in general have a normal life-span and that only approx. 15% end up in that much dreaded wheel chair (although I don't think this is one of the worst symptoms).Anecdotes, my neurologist is a wonderful doctor, but a twit with a needle. I should have suspected it when words like "whoops" and "that's strange" were uttered while he took my lumbar puncture. Not surprisingly, I was one of the few who have problems with the puncture and I spent some 5 days on the couch and 3 days in hospital. Later I went for a bloodtest and he had to poke me 5-6 times, halfway during the poking, he ran out of test tubes and left me holding the needle imbedding in my arm while he went out for more. I left the clinic with lots of little white plasters on my arms, which brought me quite a few suspicious looks in the bus on the way home. The next day my arms looked like they'd been run over by a bus. It was actually quite funny, but my husband was furious. :)