MS Awareness Month & Edamame Side Salads

It’s MS Awareness Month! MS Canada has information ABOUT MS, HOW to donate to research efforts, and WHAT you can do to learn more about this debilitating disease. Here are some stats and information about MS straight from their website!

• Canada has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world, with an estimated 90,000 Canadians living with the disease.
• On average, 12 Canadians are diagnosed with MS every day.
• 60% of adults diagnosed with MS are between the ages of 20 and 49 years old.
• MS is a neurological disease of the central nervous system which includes the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves.
• In Canada, 43 is the average age of MS diagnosis. (I turned 43, 3 months after I was diagnosed)
• 75% of people in Canada living with MS are women.
• Women are three times more likely to be diagnosed with MS than men.
• The majority of people who develop MS are initially diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), characterized by clearly defined attacks (relapses) followed by complete or partial recovery (remissions); in Canada about 90 per cent of all people living with MS are diagnosed with RRMS. (This is the type of MS that I have). Most people with relapsing-remitting will eventually transition to a phase of the disease called secondary progressive (SPMS).
• About 10 per cent of people, will be diagnosed with primary progressive MS (PPMS). Individuals diagnosed with this type of MS will experience a continuous worsening of symptoms from the beginning usually without clear relapses or remissions.
• MS attacks the protective covering — myelin — of the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation and often damaging the myelin in patches. When this happens, the usual flow of nerve impulses along nerve fibres (axons) is interrupted or distorted. The result may be the wide variety of MS symptoms, depending upon what part or parts of the central nervous system are affected.

Most Common MS Symptoms

• Balance, and vertigo, or dizziness problems are common in MS and their management can be difficult.
• MS lesions in the brain or spinal cord can disrupt the normal bladder process by interfering with the transmission of signals between the brain and urinary system.
• Bowel dysfunction in MS most commonly presents as constipation but can include diarrhea and incontinence.
• Cognitive changes can be one of the earliest manifestations of demyelination associated with MS and will affect between 40-70% of people. Memory problems, especially short term memory, are the most common.
• Depression is more prevalent in people with MS than in the general population and may be of a reactive nature, not only at the time of diagnosis but throughout the course of the disease.
• MS fatigue can be one of the most disabling symptoms of MS; up to 90% of people with MS experience fatigue.
• Several factors may contribute to gait disturbance such as muscle weakness, spasticity, balance and co-ordination problems, fatigue and pain.
• Many people with MS experience sensitivity to increased body temperature. Demyelinated fibers in the central nervous system can be very sensitive to even small elevations of core body temperature resulting in conduction delays or even conduction block.
• Optic neuritis, inflammation of the optic nerve, presents as sudden onset of visual blurring or loss of vision in one eye, particularly in the central visual field.
• About 50% of people with MS will experience some MS related pain during the course of the disease and it can take several forms.
• Numbness is the most common sensory symptom, and usually occurs with an onset in one or more limbs.
• MS can affect sexual feelings and functions both directly (primary sexual effects) and indirectly (secondary and tertiary sexual effects).
• Spasticity in MS is related to alterations in the normal excitory / inhibitory balance on the nerves responsible for movement, caused by lesions in central pathways and can be both intermittent (spasms) and tonic (stiffness).
• Tremor is a movement disorder with an involuntary, relatively rhythmic pattern, related to demyelination in the cerebellum and its pathways.
• Weakness is a common symptom of MS. Motor weakness is related to impaired nerve conduction due to inflamed and / or damaged central nerve pathways.

Less Common MS Symptoms

• Mood swings alternating between mania and depression, known as bipolar disorder, are more common in MS than in the general population.
• Dysarthria result from a variety of neurological disturbances and can range from mild difficulty enunciating words to sounding like speaking with marbles in one’s mouth. Speech can sound garbled, and unclear.
• Dysphagia can commonly be mild choking, most often with liquids but can also be quite severe. The variation of MS involvement offers the potential for a wide variety of swallowing difficulties.
• Dry mouth in MS is usually related to side-effects of medications.
• A worsening or aggravation of existing symptoms, or even the emergence of new ones just before the menstrual cycle, followed by an improvement during menstruation or immediately following, can happen.
• Inappropriate affect (pseudo bulbar affect, emotional incontinence, involuntary emotional expression disorder-IEED) is uncontrolled or involuntary laughter and/or crying, and can be a distressing symptom in MS.
• Poor coordination in MS results from cerebellar involvement and can be one of the most disabling symptoms of MS.

Diagnosis

• Many symptoms suggestive of MS are also seen in other conditions. Lyme disease in humans can have serious symptoms, including neurological symptoms similar to those seen in MS, but can generally be treated with antibiotics. Lyme disease can cause rashes and joint symptoms unlike MS. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a disorder characterized by extreme fatigue without an underlying medical condition. There is no one test to diagnose CFS. Some CFS symptoms are similar to MS symptoms however CFS symptoms also include sore throat and swollen lymph nodes in the neck or armpit, which are not seen in MS. Lupus can be difficult to diagnose because signs and symptoms are similar to those seen in other conditions however there are distinct symptoms that are not seen in MS such as skin rash, shortness of breath and fever.