The facts about MS

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system).

• MS affects women more than men.  
• Symptoms of MS often appear between ages 25-31 and can last a lifetime.
• You are slightly more likely to get this condition if you have a family history of MS or live in an part of the world where MS is more common.
• Some symptoms of MS are much more common than others.  These include:  Fatigue; Numbness; Walking (Gait), Balance, and Coordination Problems; Bladder Dysfunction; Bowel Dysfunction; Vision Problems; Dizziness and Vertigo; Sexual Dysfunction; Pain; Cognitive Dysfunction; Emotional Changes; Depression; and Spasticity.

• Although there is still no cure for MS, effective strategies are available to modify the disease course, treat exacerbations (also called attacks, relapses, or flare-ups), manage symptoms, improve function and safety, and provide emotional support. In combination, these treatments enhance the quality of life for people living with MS.

For more information about MS, including how to raise awareness, please head here.

The facts about Multiple Sclerosis

"Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially debilitating disease in which your body's immune system eats away at the protective sheath that covers your nerves. This interferes with the communication between your brain and the rest of your body. Ultimately, this may result in deterioration of the nerves themselves, a process that's not reversible.

Symptoms vary widely, depending on the amount of damage and which particular nerves are affected. People with severe cases of multiple sclerosis may lose the ability to walk or speak. Multiple sclerosis can be difficult to diagnose early in the course of the disease, because symptoms often come and go — sometimes disappearing for months.

Although multiple sclerosis can occur at any age, it most often begins in people between the ages of 20 and 40. Women are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis than are men."

"Although there is still no cure for MS, effective strategies are available to modify the disease course, treat exacerbations (also called attacks, relapses, or flare-ups), manage symptoms, improve function and safety, and provide emotional support. In combination, these treatments enhance the quality of life for people living with MS."

For more information, or to donate to fund research and treatment education, click here.

All information courtesy of MayoClinic.com and The National MS Society website. The National MS Society has been approved as a charity by the Better Business Bureau.

For Chris

With you a part of me hath passed away;
For in the peopled forest of my mind
A tree made leafless by this wintry wind
Shall never don again its green array.
Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,
Have something of their friendliness resigned;
Another, if I would, I could not find,
And I am grown much older in a day.
But yet I treasure in my memory
Your gift of charity, and young hearts ease,
And the dear honour of your amity;
For these once mine, my life is rich with these.
And I scarce know which part may greater be,--
What I keep of you, or you rob from me.

"In Memoriam"
George Santayana