Boy / Living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

An open letter about life with Multiple Sclerosis An open letter about life with multiple sclerosis. To everyone who are concerned… The world is full of people who do not understand multiple sclerosis. I know how difficult it is to compare when you do not live with this disease, but I hope that what I must say helps open your eyes and hearts to see what my life is .... I hope you will see and understand the life of someone who has MS. First of all, I want to say that multiple sclerosis is real, it hurts, it is full of challenges and struggles. And if you have not yet understood it, it is invisible to most populations, because the damage occurs within our body. Her effects are felt in other ways, while I walk, speak, and try to pass through the day by concealing symptoms, but if you could see my body from within, you would not judge me so quickly. My body inside is a wreck filled with chaos. Of course, I have my famous smile on my face for most of the time, but that does not mean that t...

ALL ABOUT MS  Treatment (Part 10) Physical treatment The most important goals of physiotherapy in MS patients are to alleviate the existing symptoms of the disease in the form of pain, fatigue, muscle spasms and urinary tract, to improve and preserve mobility at the highest possible level, and to enable daily activities, self-care , professional activity and social contacts. In MS, the use of electrotherapy (electrostimulation, drug electrophoresis, diadynamic currents, interferent currents, transcutaneous electromechanical stimulation), magnetotherapy, laser therapy, hydrotherapy (swimming, exercise, massage), kinesitherapy (exercise), work therapy and primary aids function. Exposure to heat can lead to deterioration of the symptoms of the disease, and it is therefore prohibited to use those physical agents that create heat in the body, e.g. high-frequency current KTD. Also, pool water in hydrotherapy should not be warmer than 29 o C. In MS patients, reha...

ALL ABOUT MS  Treatment (Part 9) Glatiramer acetate (Copaxone) This drug has similar effects and indications as interferon beta but a slightly different mechanism of action. It is applied at a dose of 20 mg, daily, subcutaneously. Side effects are also somewhat different, and include skin changes at the drug site and transient and short-term feeling of tightness in the chest with heart palpitations and a sense of lack of air. Natalizumab (Tysabri) This medicine is administered intravenously once a month. It works by preventing the immune system's entry into the brain and thus reducing the inflammatory (inflammatory) effect of immune cells on the nerve cells. Clinical trials have shown that natalizumab significantly reduces the incidence of attacks in the relapse form of MS, but in three patients it has caused a rare, but often fatal, brain disease. After this, the drug was withdrawn from the market, but in 2006 it was returned because of its positive effects o...

You have multiple sclerosis. First day When I heard the diagnosis, the flood of the world! All the ships sank, because I was very aware of what this disease is, my mother has the same! I can not even describe all the feelings that have captured me ... The second day I can not admit it! I'm really tired of tears, but then I cried crocodile tears. Third day What now? Internet: "It's a disease they do not know how it is created, they do not know how it evolves, they do not know the therapy and they have no medicine." For me, this is a coma. I know I do not know anything. How can I fight this disease at all, when I do not know what I'm fighting with? The fourth day - And he still lasts Again the Internet, now it really angers me. I have not yet had two of the same experiences with MS. The Internet is a wonderful thing, everything is available and you can find everything you want (or in my case you find everything you do not want), but the more you read, the more confu...

Everything is forgotten? Train your brain regularly! The brain needs training as well as the body. This is especially important when you have a diagnosis of G35 - multiple sclerosis. Cognitive problems, in particular problems with short-term memory of everyday life, affect nearly 80% of patients. And the most common cognitive problem is the loss of short-term memory. We've already written about forgetting, but it's never enough because we've forgotten everything we've already forgotten that we read and even wrote. So along with all of them, write: write, include reminders, keep calendars in the cell phone, write to "post it" and paste in visible places, I still forget. Searching for keys from cars, wallets, glasses and cell phones is my everyday life and frustrating me to the extent that I'm thinking to keep it all on a leash around my neck. Read more at: https://boywithms.blogspot.rs/2017/12/all-about-ms-symptoms-of-ms-part-6.html This may not often be sp...

Treatment Since research has shown that MS is an autoimmune disease, two basic approaches, immunosuppression (weakening of the immune response of the organism) and immunomodulation (changing the immune response) are used in the treatment. Numerous studies have shown that in the treatment of MS, the following drugs have success: interferon beta (betaferon, rebif, avonex), glatiramer acetate (copaxone), natalizumab (tysabri), mitoxantrone (novantrone) and some other cytostatics. Interferon beta Interferon beta is a protein that is a natural component of the human organism and is created by the cells of our immune system during defense reactions to external agents, primarily viruses. However, the most important effect this protein has is the so-called. Immunomodulatory effect: interferon beta promotes processes that mitigate the effects and slow down the ankle of multiple sclerosis, while the opposite inhibits it. The exact mechanism by which the interferon beta acts the...

Diagnosis of the disease MS is not easy to diagnose. There is no specific test that could be diagnosed unambiguously, as there is no symptom that is specifically characteristic of that disease, or that only occurs therein. Diagnosis of MS must begin with a detailed history of the disease, followed by a complete physical examination, not only neurological, but also all other somatic systems. It is necessary to make certain laboratory tests to exclude possible other causes of symptoms. In addition, in order to diagnose MS, it is necessary, in the case of a relapse-remitent form, that there are at least two neurological disorders that reflect the demyelination period separated by a period of at least 30 days. Or, in the case of a primarily progressive form, there must be a slow progression of symptoms over a period of at least 6 months. Diagnosis of MS can be set only on the basis of clinical data and physical examination, but usually, for the diagnosis and initiation of the...

Cognitive disorders Certain damage to cognitive functions develops in 50% of patients with MS, but only one in ten of these patients will be affected. They develop much slower than they previously thought and do not have to be proportionate to physical damage. There is a very small correlation between the duration of MS and the severity of cognitive impairment; MS exacerbations can also exacerbate cognitive functions that can be repaired with remission of the disease again. In cognitive disorders, only some functions are affected and they are most often slowed down, not reduced. Most commonly affected is recall and memory, slowing down the speed of thinking and processing information, and the ability to focus and retain attention. Relatively often the ability to solve problems and abstract thinking is reduced. Sometimes there are difficulties in verbal fluid with a pronounced "top of the tongue" phenomenon (a person wants to say something but simply can not rememb...

Sexual function disorders Sexual function disorders in MS are one of the most unusual manifestations of this disease most talked about by doctors. Precise frequency data does not take into account the fact that the problem of sexual disorders in MS is not given much attention during routine neurological examination, but it is estimated that about 62-83% of MS sufferers suffer from some type of sexual function disorder. Because similar nervous webs control the function of the bladder and genital organs, sexual disorders are often associated with urinary disorders. They occur more often in patients with weakness and numbness of the leg. Factors that affect the occurrence and severity of sexual function disorders in patients with MS are the activity of the disease which leads to variations in the manifestation of these symptoms, decreased touch sensitivity, psychological factors and depression, the presence of pain and an unpleasant tingling, disorders of urinary and de...