Everything You Need to Know About Multiple Sclerosis

There are many illnesses that share the same symptoms, which make it difficult to diagnose some of these illnesses. Multiple Sclerosis is one such illness.

This “invisible disease” affects many young people in Australia. The following paragraphs contain information on this disease, which is the most common neurological disease in Australia, and how to manage it.

What is Multiple Sclerosis?

The central nervous system, which controls the human body’s functions, is the nerve connection between the brain and spinal cord. All the cells in this system have a protective coating around them.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) happens when the immune system, the body’s soldiers, mistakes the coatings around the cells for enemies of the body and fights them.

MS manifests in so many ways. This is why no two cases of MS can ever be the same.

In Australia today, around 33,000 people live with this disease. These Aussies need the love and care of you and me to function normally. The following sections will educate you on this autoimmune disease and how to manage it.

What are the Most Common Symptoms Associated With MS?

Whenever the body fights itself, i.e. whenever the immune system mistakes a perfectly normal thing in the body for an enemy and tries to take it out, the result is described by medical professionals as an autoimmune condition.

Different types of autoimmune conditions exist. Lupus is one. Diabetes is another. Multiple Sclerosis is also another, but unlike the other two earlier mentioned, it is one of the autoimmune conditions that affects the central nervous system.

The myelin sheath is the casualty of this attack on the central nervous system. It is akin to the rubber protective cover on electrical wires that contains the current flow within the wires.

The brain sends signals to control the body via the central nervous system, and the sheath makes sure that those signals flow within the system to the spinal cord. When the immune system mistakes this protective cover of the nerve cells for an unwelcome guest, the scarred patches (scleroses) on the cover slow down the signals or block them outright.

The result is an autoimmune condition that can be diagnosed as the autoimmune disease known as Multiple Sclerosis if a combination of all or some of the following symptoms present in the person:

• Extreme fatigue
• Muscle weakness
• Vision problems
• Problems with cognitive functions (poor memory, loss of attention)

Medical professionals have also noted that MS can cause numbness (inability to feel pain) and dizziness. It can also affect your bladder and bowel, and cause mood swings.

The reason why this disease is known as the invisible disease, according to MS Australia, is that the cognitive symptoms above could mean anything.

Diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis

Per MS Australia, 85% of clearly diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis cases start with relapsing-remitting MS. This is when the known MS cases come and go often.

If this sounds familiar, take yourself or your loved one to your healthcare provider to get checked for relapsing-remitting MS.

There are three other types of MS that your healthcare provider can help you identify:

• Clinically Isolated Syndrome (CIS)

This is a scenario when MS symptoms come once, and leave after a while, not to recur again. In this scenario, the person deals with one or more symptoms associated with Multiple Sclerosis like muscle weakness, problems with the optic nerve, or extreme fatigue, for at least 24 hours after the immune system mistakes the myelin sheath of the central nervous system. If someone has been given a Clinically Isolated Syndrome diagnosis, it doesn’t mean the person has MS. Only a brain MRI (to find scars in the brain’s myelin sheath) can confirm MS.

• Secondary Progressive MS

This is a confirmed stage of MS that comes after an initial period of relapsing-remitting MS. In essence, the symptoms stop coming and going and become part of the person's daily life. As the symptoms progress, everyday tasks like walking and holding things can become a chore. The person may also experience changes to their cognitive functions and may be unable to control their bladder and bowel. SPMS can only be accurately diagnosed after six months of carefully observing the symptoms presented.

• Primary Progressive MS

In this case, there is no relapse. This means that the symptoms come once and for all, and progress over time. This can take years to diagnose because the scleroses are usually around the spinal cord, are really small and easy to miss in scans. Because of this, most people who deal with it are typically always in their 40s and 50s. It also affects more women than men.

None of these can be found without a brain MRI. In some cases, a spinal cord MRI may also be required to affirm or disprove the results of the brain MRI.

After the MRI, the healthcare provider will do blood tests on the patient to rule out other conditions. The patient will also have to do an optical coherence tomography (OCT) test to see if the optic nerves were affected. The optical coherence tomography test checks if the protective cover around the nerve cell is thinning.

If the diagnosis is confirmed, the patient immediately gets a care team assigned to them to help with symptom management. This care team will periodically repeat the MRI scans and other tests to see if the condition is getting better, while helping the patient function as best as they can while living with MS.

How to Manage Multiple Sclerosis

As an autoimmune disease, management is the way to go. People living with MS need a care team to help them properly manage the condition.

People living with MS in Australia have access to many symptom management methods and about 15 kinds of disease-modifying therapies, as a result of the work that has already been done in the field.

Working clinical standards for every MS care team in Australia lay emphasis on symptom management and disease-modifying therapies. Work is ongoing to unify the available clinical standards to make them a general rule.

There are steroids to help with relapses. There is a treatment known as plasma exchange (plasmapheresis) if the relapse is severe. This plasma exchange involves filtering the blood to remove immune factors. Plasma exchange can also be done more than once during severe cases.

A person living with MS also needs mental health care. An MS care team helps to organise counselling and therapy to cater to this need.

Most importantly, doctors will monitor the person's vitamin D levels. This is because vitamin D levels can directly affect how MS presents in the person. Where necessary, the person will get vitamin D supplement prescriptions.

In essence, life doesn't stop for a person living with MS. Instead, they gain new friends who help them live their best lives.

Conclusion

Support Network can connect you to the best resources and teams to help you manage MS. Our MS home care workers will work with your medical team to provide the best care for you, so that you can lead a full and active life, as nothing has changed.