Understanding MS

EDITOR'S NOTE -- March is National Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month.

By ROD KALISEK

Understanding what a person suffering with Multiple Sclerosis endures can be an eye-opening experience for those unaware. This little known disease slowly deteriorates the nerve coating (myelin) the signal conduit, in the central nervous system of the brain and spinal-cord. The immune system, T-cells, which are intended to fight-off the body illnesses, turns-against the body and attacks the myelin coating that protects the nerve fiber which helps transmit the signals to various body parts. The "non life threatening" disease that affects "only" about 400,000 people in the United States. This may seem like many people, but, it is only 1 in 1000 or about 0.1 percent of the population. It's this lack-of popularity that hinders financial support and private donators.

Unlike cancer, ALS and other life threatening diseases, sufferers of this disease are burdened with its debilitating progress over a "long" period of time. One might speculate that a more rapid, progressive disease would be "less" painful, in the long run. Many diseases can go into remission. Not MS. The only benefit to this "slowly" progressive disease is the "possibility" that time might provide a cure.

The disease is not an age or sex discriminator. But most of the symptoms surface at the mid-life stage. Fortunately, allowing time to create and cultivate offspring and develop a work career, but unfortunately, not enough time to reap the rewards of those successful accomplishments.

"Fatigue" is typically the major culprit for people with MS. That completely exhausted feeling experienced upon awakening, that is not conquered with a nap or even a good nights sleep. When the concentration factor is side-tracked. Remembering when it was possible to focus on an objective and not be side-tracked until the mission was accomplished. Now, focusing on a specific topic shares time with anticipating physical or mental barriers that may come into play at any given moment. It is a hurdle only successfully crossed with a strong mental drive.

The disease hits the victim in many forms of "flair-ups," called exacerbations, that can last hours or days. There are medicines available that have statistically proved to minimize the number and severity of these exacerbations. However, they are not a comforting or curing medicine, but only a "time-buying" tool that a possible remedy to the disease might be in sight.

Stress and anxiety, which is common-place in normal life, is magnified in people suffering with Multiple Sclerosis. The magnification many times affects rest and sleep patterns which consequently affects daily activities. These symptoms are difficult to explain and virtually impossible to imagine.

The next most common symptom is the physical debilitation. It begins with tingling and numbness in the extremities. Then progressively affecting the balance, walking ability and physical agilities. This is a time when the victim needs an hour to get going in the morning, 30 minutes to bath, 5 minutes to button-a-shirt and impossible to write checks. Ultimately, resulting in a progressive physical disability ranging from a limp to the need of a wheel-chair.

There are other symptoms. The range and progression of the symptoms vary from person-to-person. Symptoms can be as mild as affected cognitative skills to the severity of temporary blindness.

All culminating in the inability to comfortably participate in desired functions involving offspring, family members and business associates.

From the "family" perspective, many marriages of a MS couple are casualties of divorce. The percentage of marriage dissolution for a MS couple is between 70 percent -- 80 percent.

There are two lines of thought for this statistic. One, is that the victim is unable to come-to-peace with this traumatic diagnosis and resorts to other venting methods, i.e. drug or alcohol abuse or simply, irrational behavior. The other is that the healthy spouse foresees the need to be the caretaker for the handicapped spouse and options-out. For whatever reasons, the vow of "for richer or poorerm" in "sickness or in health" or "until death do we part" seems to have lost its value.

From an "employment" perspective, many MS victims suffer from job termination. The lines of thought for this can be fairly obvious. One, the disease ramifications affect his (her) job performance in a negative way, but secondly, and most often, the employer does not want to be tied to an employee that (1) is financially more costly (2) will eventually become physically disabled and (3) the possibility of dealing with the divorce scenario.

The bottom-line is; with the disease, the broken family situation and/or the unemployment situation, it typically results in an emotional and financial dilemma for the family.

So, next time you encounter someone experiencing a medical problem, particularly MS, please show a little compassion. Perhaps now you may realize the hurdles this individual may be encountering.

-- Kalisek lives in Gretna