Multiple Sclerosis Research Paper

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable disease that disables the central nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system. This disease is disabling and emotionally devastating to the person. Ultimately, it’s considered an autoimmune disease which means the body’s immune system attacks itself, causing damage to the myelin sheath, which covers the nerve fibers. This causes problems with the body’s communication between the brain and the nerves in rest of the body and eventually causes the nerves to deteriorate and be permanently damaged. When any part of the myelin sheath is damaged or destroyed the nerve impulses that travel back and forth to the brain and spinal cord are interrupted by dissipating into the
The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America writes, “Charcot was a French scientist, instructor, and physician who are claimed by some to be the founder of modern neurology (Multiple Sclerosis Association of America).” Sigmund Freud was one of the many famous students that Charcot inspired during his time. Some of the original therapies throughout the 1800s and 1900s, unfortunately without success were deadly nightshade, arsenic, mercury, and the injection of malaria parasites. It wasn’t until 1951 when cortisone was first used to help treat relapses, the treatment was found to reduce the severity and shorten the durations but at any rate it had no long term effect. “The first drug providing to be effective in the long-term treatment of MS received approval in 1993(Multiple Sclerosis Association of America).” At this point, there are 15 long-term treatments FDA approved for relapsing forms of MS, and even more so, many more on the way. Regrettably, the treatments that are approved only slow down the disease activity as well as reduce the severity and frequency of
The Mayo clinic reports “These patients experience periods of new symptoms or relapses that develop over days or weeks and usually improve partially or completely, and then the relapses are followed by quiet periods of disease remission that can last months or even years. About 60-70 percent of people with relapsing-remitting MS eventually develop a steady progression of symptoms, with or without periods of remission, known as secondary-progressive MS (Mayo Clinic).” Patients may each experience a different set of symptoms, these symptoms depend on which portion of the brain or spinal cord is affected by the disease. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine “Initial symptoms of MS are blurred or double vision, red-green color distortion, or even blindness in one eye (U.S. National Library of Medicine).” Additional symptoms may include numbness or weakness in one or more limbs, which typically occur on one side of the body at a given time, or in the legs and truck area, partial or complete loss of vision, usually in one eye at a time, prolonged double vision, tingling or pain in different parts of your body, lack of coordination or unsteady gait, slurred speech, fatigue, dizziness, problems with bowel and bladder function, epileptic seizures, and lastly tremors. Epileptic seizures are a rare occurrence and only occur in a minority of patients. Symptoms