MS, aka Multiple Sclerosis

We just found out that my mother in law has MS or Multiple Sclerosis. I really don't know much about MS and what I can tell not very many people know about it either. So of course I went to the trusty rusty internet. I thought I'd post a few facts about MS I learned yesterday.

I think I'll just do some bullet points so it's a quick read but you can still learn something.

• It's a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS).
• MS is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Which means your body's immune system attacks your CNS.

(You can click on the picture to enlarge)

• The places where your CNS is damaged is called legions.
  
• The symptoms of MS aren't the same for everyone.
• Some of the symptoms of MS are: fatigue, memory, thinking, mood, depression, muscle spasms and stiffness, and speech difficulties
  
• An estimated 2,500,000 people in the world have MS, it is more common in countries further away from the equator. (So they believe that Vitamin D might have something to do with it.)
• Three women have MS for every two men
• There is no cure for MS but there are now drugs which can modify its course for some people and many symptoms can be successfully treated or managed (my Mother in law is looking at taking Rebif.)
  
• MS is not directly inherited, but genetics play an important role in who gets the disease. While the risk of developing MS in the general population is 1/750, the risk rises to 1/40 in anyone who has a close relative (parent, sibling, child) with the disease. Even though identical twins share the same genetic makeup, the risk for an identical twin is only 1/4—which means that some factor(s) other than genetics are involved
• Multiple Sclerosis actually means "many scars."

I looked at these websites for this information:
UK MS society (I know this is the UK site but it was a fun little website with lots of info.)
National MS society (This site was the first I found and I sent a lot of time here.)

While I was researching this information I found some blogs that are written by people with MS I think I'll start a blog roll with them. Let's show them some support and visit them every once and awhile.

http://myjourneywithms-kimberly.blogspot.com/
http://my-ms-and-me.blogspot.com/
http://mymsjournal.blogspot.com/
http://navigatingthejourneyofms.blogspot.com/
http://livingdaytodaywithmultiplesclerosis.blogspot.com/

I hope you have learned something about MS that you may not have known before. I know I have and I'll continue to learn about it.