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What is Multiple Sclerosis?
Multiple Sclerosis is the most commonly diagnosed neurological disease in young adults. It strikes people between the ages of 15 and 60 with the highest incidence between 20 and 40 years of age. MS is chronic and can be disabling, although up to 30 percent of MS patients have a benign stable course with little or no disability throughout their lifetimes. MS is not usually a fatal disease. MS may be compared to an electrical short circuit: the myelin sheath (fatty tissue surrounding the nerves) becomes scarred, thus inhibiting the flow of messages from the brain to various parts of the body. This may result in symptoms such as impaired coordination, bladder or bowel dysfunction, speech and visual problems, numbness and fatigue. It is estimated that between a quarter of a million and half a million people in the United States have MS.
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Multiple Sclerosis
