Laurie Rasmussen, age 16, of Chester, Pa., for her question:
WHY DO SOME GET MULTIPLE SCLEROSES?
Multiple sclerosis is a disease that attacks the brain and the spinal cord. It is sometimes called MS. The cause of multiple sclerosis is not known and, unfortunately, no cure for the disease has as yet been found.
In patients with multiple sclerosis, gray patches appear in the white matter of the brain and spinal cord for reasons not yet known to medical scientists. The result of the spots is impairment of parts of the body that are controlled by the affected white matter.
Often the spine is involved, with numbness, tingling and paralysis not only in the back but also in leg muscles controlled by nerves running up the spinal cord.
When the white matter damaged is in the part of the brain that controls the eyes, there may be blurred vision or even blindness. In the same way, there might be speech disturbances, difficulty in controlling the bladder or improper functioning of other parts of the body.
Multiple sclerosis usually starts in young adulthood or in early middle years. Once it starts, it normally will last a lifetime but there often are periods of disappearance of the symptoms, called remission, with possible later relapses, or reappearances of the symptoms.
The disease has been noted to occur after the patient has had an infection, an accident, a vaccination, been pregnant, or been exposed to physical stress. But there are no definite relationships established between these characteristics and the onset of the disease. Doctors do not know why some people get multiple sclerosis while others do not.
There are more cases of multiple sclerosis in cold, damp climates than there are where the climate is warm and dry, but this fact gives no definite clues regarding the disease.
Some MS patients may live about as long as healthy individuals but under some degree of handicap while others may die earlier because of infection, particularly of the bladder and kidneys.
MS patients are usually more comfortable if they avoid sudden changes in temperature, get plenty of sleep and are regularly given physical therapy to promote circulation. This may be in the form of whirlpool baths or massage.
Doctors sometimes recommend steroids and other drugs to give some relief, but no methods seem to effect a cure for the disease.
Some doctors tell us that one of the strange characteristics of persons with long standing multiple sclerosis is their feeling of well being, with very little sign of discouragement over the disease. Some medical experts believe that the patient's euphoria and unusual optimism may be due in part to brain damage, which somehow blocks out a pessimistic outlook that could normally be expected.