About Hood Family books and Multiple Sclerosis

MS is thought to be an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS consists of the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves. Surrounding and protecting the nerve fibers of the CNS is a fatty tissue called myelin, which helps nerve fibers conduct electrical impulses.

In MS, myelin is lost in multiple areas, leaving scar tissue called sclerosis. These damaged areas are also known as plaques or lesions. Sometimes the nerve fiber itself is damaged or broken.

Myelin not only protects nerve fibers, but makes their job possible. When myelin or the nerve fiber is destroyed or damaged, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, and this produces the various symptoms of MS.

People with MS can expect one of four clinical courses of disease, each of which might be mild, moderate, or severe.

MS is a chronic, unpredictable neurological disease that affects the central nervous system.

MS is not contagious and is not directly inherited.

MS is not considered a fatal disease.

The majority of people with MS do not become severely disabled.

There is no cure for MS yet, but drugs can help slow the course and/or symptoms in some patients.

The above is from the brochure Just the Facts: 2004-2005.

Relapsing-Remitting
Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience clearly defined flare-ups (also called relapses, attacks, or exacerbations). These are episodes of acute worsening of neurologic function. They are followed by partial or complete recovery periods (remissions) free of disease progression.
Frequency: Most common form of MS at time of initial diagnosis. Approximately 85%.

Primary-Progressive
Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience a slow but nearly continuous worsening of their disease from the onset, with no distinct relapses or remissions. However, there are variations in rates of progression over time, occasional plateaus, and temporary minor improvements.
Frequency: Relatively rare. Approximately 10%.

Secondary-Progressive
Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience an initial period of relapsing-remitting disease, followed by a steadily worsening disease course with or without occasional flare-ups, minor recoveries (remissions), or plateaus.
Frequency: 50% of people with relapsing-remitting MS developed this form of the disease within 10 years of their initial diagnosis, before introduction of the “disease-modifying” drugs. Long-term data are not yet available to demonstrate if this is significantly delayed by treatment.

Progressive-Relapsing
Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience a steadily worsening disease from the onset but also have clear acute relapses (attacks or exacerbations), with or without recovery. In contrast to relapsing-remitting MS, the periods between relapses are characterized by continuing disease progression.
Frequency: Relatively rare. Approximately 5%.

What Causes MS?

While the exact cause of MS is unknown, most researchers believe that the damage to myelin results from an abnormal response by the body’s immune system. Normally, the immune system defends the body against foreign invaders such as viruses or bacteria. In autoimmune diseases, the body attacks its own tissue. It is believed that MS is an autoimmune disease. In the case of MS, myelin is attacked.

Scientists do not yet know what triggers the immune system to do this. Most agree that several factors are involved, including:

Genetics
Gender
Environmental Triggers
[Possibilities include viruses, trauma, and
heavy metals ( toxicology)]

MS was among the first diseases to be described scientifically. The 19th-century doctors did not understand what they saw and recorded, but medical drawings done as early as 1838 clearly show what we today recognize as MS.

Read more about the history of MS.

For more information

Allergies
There is no evidence that an allergic reaction to a specific environmental allergen is involved in triggering MS.

Autoimmune Disease
MS is widely held to be an autoimmune disease, meaning that the immune system is reacting against a component of the normal antigens in the body as if these antigens were foreign.

Clusters
Clusters of MS are of interest because they may provide clues to environmental or genetic risk factors, which might cause or trigger the disease.

Etiology
The study of all factors that may be involved in the development of MS.

Myelin
A substance rich in protein and lipids—fatty substances—that forms layers around the nerve fibers and acts as insulation.

What is multiple sclerosis?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) was first described in Holland by a 14th century physician. It is a disease in which the nerves of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) degenerate. Myelin, which provides a covering or insulation for nerves, improves the conduction of impulses along the nerves and also is important for maintaining the health of the nerves. In MS, inflammation causes the myelin to degenerate and eventually disappear. Consequently, the electrical impulses that travel along the nerves decelerate. Late in the disease, the nerves themselves are damaged. As more and more nerves are affected, a patient experiences a progressive interference with functions that are controlled by the nervous system such as vision, speech, walking, writing, and memory.

About 250,000 to 350,000 people in the U.S. have MS. Usually, a patient is diagnosed with MS between 20 and 40 years of age, but MS has been diagnosed as early as age 15 and as late as age 60. MS is twice as likely to occur in Caucasians as in any other group. Women are twice as likely as men are to be affected by MS earlier in life. Later in life, the incidence of the disease in men and women is almost equal.

What causes MS?

The cause of MS is still unknown. In the last 20 years, researchers have focused on disorders of the immune system and genetics for explanations. The immune system is the body's defender and is highly organized and regulated. If triggered by an aggressor or foreign object, the immune system mounts a defensive action which identifies and attacks the invader and then withdraws. This process depends upon rapid communication among the immune cells and the production of cells that can destroy the intruder. In MS, researchers suspect that a foreign object such as a virus or an abnormal gene alters myelin or the immune system so that the immune system perceives myelin as an intruder and attacks it. While some of the myelin may be repaired after the assault, some of the myelin disappears and nerves become stripped of this covering (demyelinated). Scarring also occurs, and material is deposited into the scars forming plaques.

Is MS inherited?

Although the role is unclear, genetics may play a role in MS. European gypsies, Eskimos and African Bantu essentially do not develop MS, while Native Indians of North and South America, Japanese and other Asian groups have a low incidence. The general population has less than a one-percent chance of ever contracting MS. The chance increases in families where a first-degree relative has the disease. Thus, a brother, sister, parent, or child of a person with MS stands a one to three-percent chance of developing MS. Similarly, an identical twin runs a 30% chance of acquiring MS whereas a non- identical twin has only a four-percent chance if the other twin has the disease. These statistics suggest that genetic factors play a major role in MS. However, other data suggest that environmental factors also have an important role.

What is the course of MS?

Currently, MS is recognized as occurring with seven different patterns. With each pattern, a patient experiences a sudden deterioration in normal physical abilities that may range from mild to severe. This attack, sometimes referred to as an exacerbation of MS, may last a brief time or continue for months to years. About 80% of patients begin with pattern I or Relapsing-Remitting (RR) MS, the most common pattern. In this form, patients experience a series of attacks followed by complete or partial disappearance of the symptoms (remitting) until another attack occurs (relapse). It may be weeks to decades between relapses. In pattern II, also called Primary- Progressive (PP) MS, there is a gradual decline in a patient's physical abilities with only short periods where the decline seems to stop with some minor relief. About 20% of patients begin with PP-MS. Patients beginning with RR-MS who then develop PP-MS fall into pattern III, also called Secondary-Progressive (SP) MS. About 50% of RR-MS patients will develop SP-MS within 10 years. Pattern IV or Progressive-Relapsing (PR) MS is characterized by a steady decline in abilities accompanied by frequent attacks. Pattern V or Chronic- Progressive (CP) MS V includes PP, SP, and PR-MS. In pattern VI, called benign MS, a patient experiences an initial attack followed by little or no progression. Finally, there is a rare, rapidly progressive form of MS called malignant MS or pattern VII.

What are the symptoms of MS?

Symptoms of MS may be single or multiple and may range from mild to severe in intensity and short to long in duration. Complete or partial remission from symptoms occurs early in about 70% of MS patients. Visual disturbances often are the first symptoms of MS, but they usually subside. A patient may notice blurred or double vision, red-green distortion, or sudden blindness. Muscle weakness leading to difficulties with coordination and balance commonly is noticed early. Muscle spasms, fatigue, numbness, and prickling pain are common symptoms. There may be a loss of sensation, speech impediment, tremors, dizziness, or occasionally hearing loss. 50% of patients experience mental changes such as decreased concentration, attention deficits, some degree of memory loss, or impairment in judgment. Other symptoms may include depression; manic depression, paranoia or an uncontrollable urge to laugh and weep called laughing-weeping syndrome. As the disease worsens, patients may experience sexual dysfunction or reduced bowel and bladder control. Heat appears to intensify MS symptoms for about 60% of patients, and relief is found with cold baths or swimming. Pregnancy seems to reduce the number of attacks.

Thanks to MedicineNet.com for most of the information on this site Please visit their website. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp

Thanks to National Multiple Sclerosis Sociciety for most of the information on this site Please visit their website. http://www.nationalmssociety.org

For more information about the author, poet and researcher Karen Jean Matsko Hood, please visit www.karenjeanmatskohood.com or www.Karenhood.com

For more information about the publisher contact www.whisperingpinepress.com

Hood Family Books

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