I have recently come to know about a deteriorating disease called Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord. More specifically, there is a damage to the myelin sheath of your nervous cells.
For those of you who don't understand what i'm talking about, here is a picture that might clarify it a little bit better.
Once I heard about this disease, I began to surf online and researched on how it might affect a person who is suffering from it. I came across certain articles like "Living with multiple sclerosis means struggles and triumphs" and found out that about 400,000 americans are suffering from MS right now.
Even celebrities like Jack Osbourne and Ann Romney, wife of the presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is or have suffered from MS. It was interesting to find out that even though this disease has not been curable there are several drug therapies that can slow down the disease..... Which means there is a way to live with it. Phew! :)
I mean think about, REALLY think about it. Most of us never even think about our daily physical movements. Whether its walking across a room or even lifting a pencil. Imagine NOT being able to even lift a pencil because somewhere along the way the signal from your brain telling your hand to grab the pencil got lost and never went thru. Its a tough thing to think about.
What would you do if you find out that you have MS?
Adam Gottschalk has been suffering of MS for a couple of years now and has recently learned that there has been is an alternate approach to treat this disorder. He has been taking several drugs to help with it, but its not sufficient because he still cannot do alot of the things he used to do. This other approach is the vein-opening CCSVI surgery. Apparently, a surgeon from italy hypothesized that that the real cause of M.S. was something called chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). Adam came across this idea when he was watching a you tube video of a man who suffered from MS and suddenly walking after undergoing this procedure.
Apparently it was a huge controversial issue because not everyone agrees this is a smart approach. The article ' A controversial cure for MS' talk about it in more detail.
In my opinion, I believe that everyone is entitled to their own ideas and if you feel that you are willing to try just about anything to have a even just a small chance to get better than you should go ahead and do it. There are many people who argue that without sufficient amount of evidence you should go not go for it. But then think about it.. How else do you get evidence? by having people who are willing to undergo a procedure hoping for that same small chance. Sometimes taking a risk can get you very far!
what a wonderful blog michelle!! i have also come across this type of disease because in my rehabilitative services classes we were though how to psychologically and physiologically deal with clients that had multiple sclerosis. Many of them do not know there in treatment or can not afford the treatment to they have to make it part of there lives and just adapt. But it would be awesome if awareness was brought in ways to prevented and control it. I loved the picture we you added it gave a great description on what multiple sclerosis would happen to look like.
ReplyDeleteI had heard of multiple sclerosis before, but the illustrations are always a big help so we can understand better how a damaged myelin would look like (great picture by the way! you can really tell where the damage is). The first time I heard that celebrities such as Jack Osbourne had MS I was like 'I know I've heard of this before' but I was not 100% sure of what MS deals with. I know that it damages the myelin sheath and since the nerve cell is damaged the nerve signals tend to slow down or stop. It is known that a virus or a gene defect or sometimes both at the same time are causes of this to happen. Like you mentioned there is no known cure but there are medications such as Avonex, Betaseron and Zanaflex, they can be used depending on the severity. Other treatments can include physical therapy, occupational therapy and the use of assistive devices such as wheelchairs. The prognosis looks better for females and for those who were less than 30 years old when the disease first started. Bottom-line is we should be very thankful every day because we are able to do things on our own because our brain works very properly. Our bodies are very smart but viruses are always out there, so we have to keep a healthy lifestyle all the time.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture - the post and comments were interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteIt is true, we truly are blessed. I have suffered with asthma my whole life and can only imagine what people with MS go through. The picture does help a lot. 400,000 PEOPLE, THAT’S A LOT. It is a good thing that so many people can cure it or at least control it with the medications.
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