Informative Outline On Multiple Sclerosis

An unpredictable severe disorder of the central nervous system known as multiple sclerosis, which can range from relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating, as contact between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted. Most of the health experts believe multiple sclerosis disease to be an autoimmune disease, one in which the body, through its immune system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues. In case of the disease multiple sclerosis, it is the nerve-insulating myelin sheath that comes under assault. Such neurological attacks may be linked to an unknown environmental trigger, perhaps a virus.

Most of the people generally experience the first symptoms of the neural disease multiple sclerosis between the ages of 20 and 40; the initial symptom of multiple sclerosis is often blurred or double vision, red-green color distortion, or even blindness in one eye. Most of the people with multiple sclerosis disease experience muscle weakness in their extremities and difficulty with coordination and balance. These symptoms of the disease may be severe enough to impair walking or even standing. In the worst cases of the disease multiple sclerosis can produce partial or complete paralysis. Most of the people with the neural disease multiple sclerosis also show paresthesias, transitory abnormal sensory feelings such as numbness, prickling, or "pins and needles" sensations. Some people with the disease may also experience pain. Tremors and dizziness, speech impediments are other frequent complaints. People with multiple sclerosis often have hearing loss. Approximately half of all the sufferer of multiple sclerosis experience cognitive impairments such as difficulties with concentration, attention, memory, and poor judgment, but such symptoms are usually mild and are frequently overlooked. Depression and anxiety is another common feature of multiple sclerosis.

There is as yet no effective cure for multiple sclerosis. Most of the patients do well with no therapy at all, especially since many medications have serious side effects and some carry significant risks. Three forms of beta interferon-- Avonex, Betaseron, and Rebif, however, have now been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Beta interferon drug has been reported to reduce the number of exacerbations and may slow the progression of physical disability. When attacks of multiple sclerosis do occur, they tend to be shorter and less severe. The Food and Drug Administration also has approved a synthetic form of myelin basic protein, called copolymer I (Copaxone), for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Copolymer I, as reported has few side effects, and studies indicate that the agent can reduce the relapse rate by almost one third. An advanced immunosuppressant treatment, Novantrone (mitoxantrone), is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of advanced or chronic multiple sclerosis.

Natalizumab (Tysabri) is one monoclonal antibody which was shown in clinical trials to significantly reduce the frequency of attacks in people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and was approved for marketing by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004. While treatment with steroids does not affect the course of multiple sclerosis over time, they can reduce the duration and severity of attacks in some patients. Spasticity is another condition related to multiple sclerosis, which can occur either as a sustained stiffness caused by increased muscle tone or as spasms that come and go, is usually treated with muscle relaxants and tranquilizers such as baclofen, tizanidine, diazepam, clonazepam, and dantrolene.

• Juliana Breckinridge
• 10/02/2009, 12:59 AM
• 0 Comments