Multiple Sclerosis Prognosis

There is no known definitive cure for multiple sclerosis. However, several types of therapy have proven to be helpful. Different therapies are used for patients experiencing acute attacks, for patients who have the relapsing-remitting subtype, for patients who have the progressive subtypes, for patients without a diagnosis of MS who have a demyelinating event, and for managing the various consequences of MS attacks. Multiple Sclerosis treatment is aimed at returning function after an attack, preventing new attacks, and preventing disability.

Prognosis
The future course of the disease (or prognosis) for people with multiple sclerosis depends on the subtype of the disease, the individual's sex and race, their age, their initial symptoms, and the degree of disability they experience. The life expectancy of people with MS is now nearly the same as that of unaffected people. This is mainly due to improved methods of limiting disability, such as physical therapy and speech therapy, and more successful treatment of common complications of disability, such as pneumonia and urinary tract infections.

How multiple sclerosis causes damage
Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the body's immune system attacks the myelin surrounding nerve cells. Myelin is a fatty substance which covers the axons of nerve cells and is important for proper nerve conduction. A special subset of white blood cells, called T cells, plays a key role in the development of MS. Under normal circumstances, these lymphocytes can distinguish between self and non-self. However, in a person with MS, these cells recognize healthy parts of the central nervous system as foreign and attack them as if they were an invading virus.

Why multiple sclerosis occurs
Although many risk factors for multiple sclerosis have been identified, no definitive cause has been found. MS likely occurs as a result of some combination of both environmental and genetic factors. Various theories try to combine the known data into plausible explanations. Although most accept an autoimmune explanation, several theories suggest that MS is an appropriate immune response to an underlying condition.

MS is not considered a hereditary disease. However, increasing scientific evidence suggests that genetics may play a role in determining a person's susceptibility to MS. The indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Japanese, and other Asian peoples have very low incidence rates. It is unclear whether this is due mostly to genetic or environmental factors.

In the population at large, the chance of developing MS is less than a tenth of one percent. However, if one person in a family has MS, that person's first-degree relatives—parents, children, and siblings—have a one to three percent chance of getting the disease.

History
There are several historical accounts of people who probably had Multiple Sclerosis. Saint Lidwina of Schiedam (1380–1433), a Dutch nun, may have been the first identifiable MS patient. From the age of sixteen until her death at age 53, she suffered intermittent pain, weakness of the legs, and vision loss—symptoms typical of MS.

Another early account of MS was kept by the British diarist W. N. P. Barbellion, who maintained a detailed log of his diagnosis and struggle with MS. His diary was published in 1919 as The Journal of a Disappointed Man.

Augustus Frederick d'Este (1794–1848), an illegitimate grandson of King George III of Great Britain, almost certainly suffered from MS. D'Este left a detailed diary describing his 22 years living with the disease. His symptoms began at age 28 with a sudden transient visual loss after the funeral of a friend. During the course of his disease he developed weakness of the legs, clumsiness of the hands, numbness, dizziness, bladder disturbances, and erectile dysfunction. In 1844, he began to use a wheelchair.