Multiple sclerosis

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive condition, which affects the nervous system, for which there is no cure.

MS is the most common neurological disorder among young adults, which affects about one person in 600 in the UK. There are approximately 85,000 people diagnosed with MS in the UK. MS can occur at any age, but it is rare before puberty and after 60. In most cases symptoms are first seen between the ages of 20 and 40. Women are affected more often than men with approximately three women to every two men being diagnosed.

Nerve fibres are normally insulated with a protective sheath of fatty tissue called myelin. In multiple sclerosis, there is patchy loss and scarring of this myelin sheath (demyelination) Sclerosis means scars. This means that where the myelin is damaged the nerve messages cannot travel normally from the brain to different parts of the body through the central nervous system, affecting many functions of the body

Although the exact cause is unknown there is some evidence to suggest that factors involved include an environmental factor, such as a virus, and an autoimmune factor (the body attacks and destroys its own tissue).

MS shows up differently in each person. Some people have an attack and then are free of symptoms for up to ten years or longer. MS can affect some people only very mildly, while others can deteriorate very quickly.

There are four main types of MS:

Benign MS that starts with a small number of mild attacks followed by complete recovery.
Primary progressive MS, affects around 12% of people with MS. From the start, the pattern isnâ€™t of relapses and remissions but symptoms gradually develop and worsen over time.
Relapsing-remitting type is the most common type. About 80% of people with MS have this type at onset. This means the person has relapses (a flare up of symptoms), followed by remissions (periods of recovery). These tend to be unpredictable and their cause is unclear. They can last for days, weeks or months and vary from mild to severe.
Many people who start out with relapsing-remitting MS later develop a form known as secondary progressive MS. About 50% of people go on to develop secondary progressive MS during the first 10 years. This means that the disability does not go away after a relapse and progressively worsens between attacks, or that the cycle of attack followed by remission is replaced by a steady progression of disability.