World MS Day is on 25 May. The MS society KZN is discovering more and more people being diagnosed with this disease. It can strike at any age so our aim for the next couple of years is to create as much awareness as we can.
MS is an autoimmune disease whereby the body’s own immune system “attacks” its own myelin, which is the protective layer around the brain and spine cells or neurons. This prevents the electrical messages from travelling along their natural paths telling the body what to do. This then ends up with scars forming in the brain called sclerosis and there are many of them – hence the word multiple. These can form anywhere in the brain or spinal cord. Where they form, will determine which part of the body is affected.
Some of the early signs are: optic neuritis (blurry vision), pain behind the eye, numbness or tingling travelling down your spine, legs or face, dizziness (falling or tripping easily), extreme fatigue and muscle spasms, to name a few. Each patient thus develops his/her own specific collection of symptoms. There is no known cause or cure.
Diagnosis can only be made with an MRI and spine tap. Treatment ends up only managing the symptoms. The most common form of treatment is corticosteroids. There are now new drugs being tested every year but they have severe side-effects and are extremely expensive.
Because it is known as an autoimmune disease, the gut is the first place to start so we have found that patients who follow an almost raw and gluten free diet benefit the most.
For more information visit the Multiple Sclerosis website.
By Dee Munks, Chairman, Multiple Sclerosis South Africa KZN.