Although MS is a chronic condition, there are some ways to manage it with drugs and lifestyle changes. There is no complete cure or prevention method, but diet, exercise, medications, and early detection can go a long way in slowing its progression.
MS is a progressive disease for which no cure has yet been found. Although there are treatments to manage the disease course, they are only partially effective and slow down progression for most patients. This means that some people's MS will worsen in spite of everything they and their doctors may attempt.
Some people are told they have benign MS. The term benign MS is sometimes used to describe a version of relapsing remitting MS with very mild or no attacks separated by long periods with no symptoms. 'Benign' means 'something doesn't cause any harm'.
There's no cure for multiple sclerosis, but benign MS is the mildest form of the condition.
You may have to adapt your daily life if you're diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), but with the right care and support many people can lead long, active and healthy lives.
About 15% of patients will never necessitate assistance with ambulation, while 5-10% will do so within 5 years, and another 10% will do so in 15 years. Average patient will take about 28 years from the point of diagnosis to necessitate assistance while walking, and will be about 60 years of age.
A remission can last for weeks, months, or, in some cases, years. But remission doesn't mean you no longer have MS. MS medications can help reduce the chances of developing new symptoms, but you still have MS. Symptoms will likely return at some point.
It's felt that most people experience the severest disabilities of MS within five years of diagnosis. After that point, their disabilities don't continue to worsen significantly. Therefore, if no additional disabilities appear within the first five years, then they are unlikely to occur in the future.
We know early treatment improves long-term health and wellbeing by slowing down the build up of irreversible damage and reducing the number of relapses people experience. Starting MS treatment early is best but if you start later it can also have some benefits.
Between 1 and 2 in every 10 people with the condition start their MS with a gradual worsening of symptoms. In primary progressive MS, symptoms gradually worsen and accumulate over several years, and there are no periods of remission, though people often have periods where their condition appears to stabilise.
Observation of MS patients indicates that relapses also tend to diminish after that age, and that subsequent disease progression may not be immune-mediated, as it tends not to be associated with MRI-detectable inflammatory activity.
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis. Treatment typically focuses on speeding recovery from attacks, reducing new radiographic and clinical relapses, slowing the progression of the disease, and managing MS symptoms. Some people have such mild symptoms that no treatment is necessary.
What causes exacerbations? Exacerbations (relapses) are caused by inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS). The inflammation damages the myelin, slowing or disrupting the transmission of nerve impulses and causing the symptoms of MS.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by your immune system mistakenly attacking the brain and nerves. It's not clear why this happens but it may be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Most symptoms develop abruptly, within hours or days. These attacks or relapses of MS typically reach their peak within a few days at most and then resolve slowly over the next several days or weeks so that a typical relapse will be symptomatic for about eight weeks from onset to recovery.
Whether a person with MS becomes paralyzed may depend upon the severity of the MS and where the lesions, or damaged areas on the nerve fibers, are located.
The study found that people with MS lived to be 75.9 years old, on average, compared to 83.4 years old for those without. That 7.5-year difference is similar to what other researchers have found recently.
Over 25,600 people in Australia are living with multiple sclerosis, including 3,700 Queenslanders, and it affects each person differently. On average more than 10 Australians are diagnosed with MS every week.
You'll Build Muscle Strength and Function
Resistance training (with bodyweight, free weights, or machines) and swimming are effective ways to build and maintain strength in exercisers with MS, says Ashley Davis, C.P.T., a trainer with Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, IL.
MS can occur at any age, but onset usually occurs around 20 and 40 years of age. However, younger and older people can be affected. Sex. Women are more than 2 to 3 times as likely as men are to have relapsing-remitting MS .
Although MS isn't fatal, there's currently no cure — MS is a chronic condition. But many people who have MS also have to contend with other issues that can decrease their quality of life. Even though most will never become severely disabled, many experience symptoms that cause pain, discomfort, and inconvenience.
New lesions might occur in patients with progressive MS and adjusting therapy can be considered. Patients with untreated CIS should be scanned every 1–3 months for the initial 6 months and if stable repeating MRIs every 6–12 months is recommended, unless new clinical symptoms occur.
Relapsing-remitting MS
Relapses can last for varying periods – from a few days up to months – and then the disease may then be inactive for months or years. About 85 per cent of people with MS are initially diagnosed with RRMS.