HOME | THE CHALLENGE | THE TEAM | THE ROUTE | SPONSOR US | LINKS | PRESS | CONTACT

Thursday 21 August, 2008

					>	You are here: Home > About MS
		£275.00 It's a lot, but we can still do much, much better! Get donating now!				About MS What is MS? MS is a debilitating disease of the nervous system, caused by the immune system attacking someone's Central Nervous System (CNS). Around each nerve is an insulating wrapping of fatty membrane called myelin. In multiple sclerosis (MS) the myelin is broken down in patches throughout the central nervous system and the damaged patches become scarred (this is where the name comes from - sclerosis meaning scars and multiple obviously means many). Without the myelin coating, nerve messages cannot travel normally and they can become garbled or lost so that the instructions sent by the nervous system to different parts of the body are disrupted. Symptoms can vary from simple things like loss of feeling (sensory), to more evident physical disabilities such as paralysis. Unfortunately, living with MS can be scary, with symptoms causing partial or total loss of eyesight, incontinence, slurred voice and irregular walking (giving the appearance of being drunk), loss of balance and vertigo (all cases in which conventional medication rarely works). MS in a person can appear in four different forms: Relapse Remitting MS (RRMS) Benign MS Secondary Progressive MS (SPMS) Primary Progressive MS (PPMS) To find out about these types of MS, click HERE. Who has it? It is thought that between 85 and 100 thousand people in the UK - about 1 in 600 - have been diagnosed. MS affects more women than men (by a ratio of 3:2) with symptoms usually becoming apparent in young adults (between the ages of 20 and 40) even though a firm diagnosis might not be made for many years. What causes it? No one knows - despite vast amounts of research which is still going on. Various factors may trigger an inborn susceptibility to MS. Such factors may cause inappropriate activity of the immune system - the body's defence mechanism - causing the destruction of myelin. Factors associated with MS may be more likely to occur in Northern Europe, Canada, the Northern States of the USA, New Zealand and Tasmania since these are the places where the incidence of MS is highest. MS is not contagious (infectious) - you cannot catch it from someone. What problems does it cause? As with most chronic illnesses, the problems are both physical and emotional. The severity and incidence of symptoms vary enormously from person to person and even from hour to hour. The most common symptoms include: fatigue, loss of balance, incontinence, nerve pain (neuralgia), muscle spasms, muscle stiffness, walking problems and, in a worst case scenario, paralysis. Did you know...? One-third of people diagnosed with MS are still working, walking & functioning relatively normally 25-30 years following their diagnosis. In fact, there are many cases of MS where the individual has changed their prognosis themselves. Many people find Complementary Therapies or make lifestyle changes which help them to stabilise MS, avoid relapses or even recover fully and keep MS at bay for good. For example many people find Dietary change, good nutrition, exercise, Vitamin D, avoiding stress, getting enough sleep, taking up yoga, or trying an MS drug of great help.

	This website, its contents and design are copyright. © Ralph Allison, 2007. All Rights Reserved. The Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre is a Registered UK Charity (reg. 1033731).