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.
Unhealthy Habits
Smoking and alcohol use are modifiable risk factors — they can be altered by personal choice — and are known from large research studies to increase a person's risk of developing MS or of disease progression.
Can stress cause MS? Some people with MS feel that they developed MS as a direct result of some stressful event or trauma. The evidence on this connection is mixed. Some studies do see an effect whilst others don't.
Childhood trauma results in PTSD and chronic stress, which may be partly how it influences the likelihood a person will develop MS, says Jacobs. “[Chronic stress] in turn results in the release of stress hormones which impact the immune system,” she says.
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.
Although more people are being diagnosed with MS today than in the past, the reasons for this are not clear. Likely contributors include greater awareness of the disease, better access to medical care and improved diagnostic capabilities. There is no definitive evidence that the rate of MS is generally on the increase.
While the genetics governing MS risk are still not completely understood, some 200 genes are thought to possibly contribute — even in small ways — to MS development. The strongest genetic risk factor is a particular variant of the HLA-DRB1 gene, called HLA-DRB1*15:01.
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.
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.
Scientists believe that a combination of factors trigger the disease. Studies support the opinion that MS is caused when people with the right combination of genes are exposed to some trigger in the environment. Research also suggests that ethnicity and geography play a role.
Average life span of 25 to 35 years after the diagnosis of MS is made are often stated. Some of the most common causes of death in MS patients are secondary complications resulting from immobility, chronic urinary tract infections, compromised swallowing and breathing.
But researchers are particularly interested in the role that sunlight (and therefore vitamin D) could play in MS. In 2015 scientists demonstrated a clear link between low vitamin D and MS. They found that people who naturally had lower levels of vitamin D (because of their genetics) were more likely to develop MS.
Some people with MS say following a special diet gives them a feeling of control over their MS. Or makes them feel better and helps with their symptoms, but that's not the case for everyone. At the moment there isn't enough evidence to recommend any special diet for people with MS.
MS is not directly inherited from parent to child. There's no single gene that causes it. Over 200 genes might affect your chances of getting MS.
Many people diagnosed with MS do not have a family history of the condition. Whilst the rate of MS within families suggests that there is a genetic factor involved in developing the condition, studies of identical twins show that genes are not the whole story.
Now, a study led by Stanford Medicine researchers has proved that the Epstein-Barr virus, a common type of herpes virus, triggers multiple sclerosis by priming the immune system to attack the body's own nervous system.
MS can appear at any age but most commonly manifests between the ages of 20 and 40. It affects women two to three times as often as men. Almost one million people in the United States have MS, making it one of the most common causes of neurological disability among young adults in North America.
The prevalence of MS in Australia has increased from 103.7 per 100,000 people in 2017 to 131.1 per 100,000 people in 2021. This increase in prevalence is most likely due to changes in exposure to known MS risk factors.
Can I have multiple sclerosis for years and not know it? Yes. MS can go undetected for years. Research has suggested that many patients experience MS-related symptoms and signs several years before receiving a definite diagnosis of the disease.
A person with benign MS will have few symptoms or loss of ability after having MS for about 15 years, while most people with MS would be expected to have some degree of disability after that amount of time, particularly if their MS went untreated.