Multiple Sclerosis - Research Paper Example

Section/# Multiple Sclerosis Of all of the diseases that are currently extant within the world, the most horrifying ones are invariably those that have no cure and only limited treatments. One such disease that continues to claim thousands of lives each and every year is multiple sclerosis; also known widely by its abbreviation MS. As a means of seeking to provide the reader an overview of the symptoms, prognosis, treatments, and developing treatments that are being sought, it is the hope of this author that this analysis can be useful in providing a great deal of background information with respect to this horrific disease. Finally, an outlook for some of the means by which the disease might be integrated with in the future will be briefly analysed and discussed. Firstly, with regards to the symptoms that oftentimes accompany MS and should serve as a warning to the individual that they have the disease, the reader and/or patient should understand that the symptoms can exhibit themselves in a multitude of different ways (Haffler, 2004). Due to this factor, it is often extraordinarily difficult for the patient or the healthcare professional to correctly diagnose the disease as it is evidenced by symptoms as diverse as muscle weakness, muscle spasms, loss of coordination, diffiulting swallowing, visual abnormalities, fatigue, or difficulties retaining urine or the bowels. Due to such a generalized and non-determinent subset of symptoms, it is oftentimes common for individuals who have multiple sclerosis to live with it for several years prior to correct diagnosis. Moreover, further belying the truth of the chronic nature of the disease, it often exhibits itself in boughts (called flare-ups) in which the individual is especially afflicted with a subset of symptoms, only to see a general improvement in health at an indeterminate date in the future; convincing them that the body has repaired itself and is on the mend. However, by very nature of the disease, this is merely the means by which it works as it continues to tear down the body and its ability to cope with the progressive and worsening nature of the disease. Secondly, with regards to the means by which the disease can be treated, it is vitally important to underscore the fact that there is no known cure for the disease nor has there ever been a proven case in which the body’s natural defense mechanism has been able to cure the disease on its own (Ben-Hur, 2011). As such, it is the very definition of a chronic disease that almost always is the primary cause of death for the patient who has acquired it. However, this notwithstanding, there exist various treatments that are able to slow the disease and improve the prognosis and general life expectancy that an individual who has the disease might expect to have. As a function of such an understanding, the best types of treatments that are currently available to the individual suffering from MS are concentric upon pharmacological means as well as therapy (Conway & Cohen, 2010). The pharmacological means are usually based upon trying to integrate a degree of neuro-rehabilitation within the patient and seek to reduce the rate at which symptoms and their destructive side effects can cause. Moreover, physical rehabilitation is not a means to stop the disease but rather a means to allow the patient the necessary skills and knowledge of how they can seek to continue to engage in a normal life with a disease that is slowly depriving them of key abilities such as walking, using the restroom in a normal fashion, and/or vision. As of 2013, there are several disease modifying and/or alternative treatments that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved for use on individuals with MS. These are almost exclusively predicated on provide different intra muscular and interferon beta-la injections designed to provide intravenous support with regards to the degenerative nature of the disease. The majority of these disease modifying treatments are intended on masking or delaying the onset of RRMS (relapsing remitting courses). However, it should be definitively stated that although these breakthroughs are helping healthcare professionals to integrate a further level of help to the patient as well as a greater level of understanding of the disease, these treatments are still only meant to treat the symptoms and not as a means of providing any level of cure; due to the fact that no known remedy exists for multiple sclerosis. Moreover, medical professionals not only have no idea how to cure the disease, it is also unknown how the individual inherits or acquires the disease. Although individuals that have had a family member that has had the disease are at a statistically higher chance to develop it themselves, such a determinant in and of itself is not sufficient to definitively state that it is exclusively transmitted via familial lines (Bello-Haas, 2009). As with most diseases that have no known cure, a frenetic level of medical research is currently being performed on MS as a means of defining the approach that can best be engendered in order to provide a cure to the patient that is afflicted or at the very least, seek to stop the disease cold in its tracks. Although there has been a great deal of progress made with regards to other diseases, multiple sclerosis continues to provide something of an impenetrable wall for the healthcare professional in seeking to ameliorate its symptoms and or provide a cure that can make the disease an issue of the past; similar to polio. However, regardless of the fact that no known cure exists, there has been a great deal of medical knowledge and breakthroughs that have been developed with regards to treating patients with MS. In such a way, the reader and/or researcher can and should understand that these develops have greatly assisted the patient in providing a higher quality of life than what has previously been enjoyed by those that suffer with the disease. It is the expectation of this author that although the disease still continues to baffle healthcare professionals, a further integration and application of scientific knowledge will ultimately be able to provide the breakthroughs that have so long been sought after. References Bello-Haas, V. (2009). Exercise therapy for multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, 33(1), 56-57. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/213735769?accountid=27953 Ben-hur, T. (2011). Cell therapy for multiple sclerosis. Neurotherapeutics, 8(4), 625-42. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13311-011-0073-x Conway, D., & Cohen, J. A. (2010). Emerging oral therapies in multiple sclerosis. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 10(5), 381-8. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11910-010-0125-3 Hafler, D. A. (2004). Multiple sclerosis. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 113(6), 788-94. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/200541190?accountid=2795 Read More