March 4th Edition: Chronic Diseases: Multiple Sclerosis

Chronic Diseases: Multiple Sclerosis

By: Lisa Kim

Multiple Sclerosis, often abbreviated as MS, is a chronic disease that negatively affects one’s nervous system which includes the brain and spinal cord. Patients with MS have an immune system that attacks their nerve fibers and myelin. Nerve fibers are responsible for communicating nerve impulses to the rest of the body, and myelin acts as a protective shield for the fibers (Mayo Clinic). Thus, because these important pieces of neurons are damaged, communication complications between one’s body and brain arise. Since MS is a chronic disease, its long-lasting symptoms include difficulty walking, numbness, blurred vision, loss of vision, speech problems, and muscle weakness (Johns Hopkins). However, the disease can progress differently depending on the patient. There are four different disease courses: relapse remitting, secondary progressive, primary progressive, and benign. 

Relapse remitting MS is the most common form with nearly 90% of patients having it, and it’s characterized by experiencing a relapse period following a remission period. During a relapse, a patient experiences symptoms for at least a day; these symptoms include fatigue, numbness, tingling, blurred vision, and weakness (Johns Hopkins). Then during a remission period, a patient no longer experiences symptoms. Patients who experience very mild symptoms with long periods of remission are known to have a specific type of relapse remitting MS called benign MS. Only 5-10% of MS patients have this course of the disease. 

Secondary progressive MS is when a patient starts off experiencing a relapse remitting course but then their condition worsens without any remissions. 

Patients whose conditions have increasingly worsened since the beginning of their diagnosis without any remissions have primary progressive MS. Roughly 10-15% of patients have this course of the disease. 

Work Cited:

Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Multiple Sclerosis (MS).” Johns Hopkins Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/multiple_sclerosis/conditions/#:~:text=Multiple%20sclerosis%20(MS)%20is%20a,the%20brain%20and%20spinal%20cord.

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education. “Multiple sclerosis.” Mayo Clinic.

“Multiple Sclerosis (MS).” Johns Hopkins Medicine, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/multiple-sclerosis-ms. Accessed 14 March 2022.