How did I get Multiple Sclerosis? and other answers for the newly diagnosed.

Being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis comes as a shock for most people. A vast majority of those diagnosed do not know exactly what the disease is or what the symptoms are, thus a diagnosis maybe very difficult to come to terms with. The first question many people ask is how and why it happened. Those who are diagnosed may also worry about what this diagnosis means for their families, particularly their children. There are many things that are factored into determining the cause of MS. Everything from geographical location to genetics is taken into account. Although there is no precise answer to the question of how an individual obtains the disease or exactly what causes it, there are some important "estimates or observations" that can help answer some of the questions that a newly diagnosed individual may have.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, immune-mediated disease that affects the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord and optic nerves). In a nut shell, the immune system attacks the myelin (insulation or coating on nerves) therefore nerve conduction is slowed. This demyelination results in plaques (also known as lesions or scars) that are located around the nerves axons (the extensions of nerve cells that conduct nervous impulses away from the cell body of the nerve) thus interfering with nerve conduction.The symptoms of MS can result from nerve inflammation as well as from damage to the axon itself. Those symptoms can include loss of vision, double vision, stiffness, weakness, imbalance,numbness, pain, problems with the bladder and bowel control, fatigue, sexual changes, speech and swallowing difficulties,emotional changes and intellectual impairment. The type and number of symptoms varies from one individual to the next.

The exact cause of MS is unknown. Most experts agree that is a combination of a person's genetic predisposition, a malfunction of the immune system, and one or more environmental factors. Although a vast number of environmental factors have been studied,none have been confirmed to cause or worsen the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.

The majority of individuals are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50. In some cases MS has made it's first appearance in early childhood or after the age of 60. The onset of symptoms usual occurs between the ages of 30 and 35. The disease is diagnosed more commonly in women than in men. It is most common in people with a Northern European ancestry who are Caucasians. The disease is rare in Asians and some other groups. MS is most common in areas farther from the equator. Although it is not entirely based on genetics, it is estimated that 20 percent of all individuals have a family member with the disease.

This question is rather complicated. Because Multiple Sclerosis is not a disease that has to be reported to health authorities, it is hard to estimate exactly how many people suffer from the illness. Currently the National Multiple Sclerosis Society reports that there are 400,000 people in the United States who have been diagnosed with MS and that 10,000 cases are diagnosed each year. To put these numbers in perspective, it is estimated that today 2.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's, 2.1 million have rheumatoid arthritis and 1.5million have Parkinson's disease.

My husband was diagnosed in July 2010 with MS. Since then I have made it my mission to read everything I can get my hands on about the disease. The content in this page is very limited so I have included some books that I highly recommend those who have been diagnosed or those with a loved one with the disease to read.Here a few websites that are also extremely helpful: