Monthly Archives: September 2011
Types of Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
What are the types of Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis is a life-long and individual disease, which cause is yet to be known. However, studies have shown and classified its types as Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis, Secondary Progressive MS, Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, and Progressive Relapsing MS.
Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS). This is the most common types of MS with which patients are initially diagnosed. Here, the patient usually suffers an attack, or series of attacks called exacerbations followed by complete or partial remissions. Relapses are very unpredictable because its occurrences are intermittent and can be mild or severe; and recovery can also either be instantaneous or gradual. It is in the relapse stage that new symptoms may re-appear and then old ones will resurface or possibly worsen, and the disease becomes very active and residual damage may occur to the nerves. After a relapse comes, remission period, during of which the time patient may either seem to show 100 percent recovery, or only partial recovery. A little over 80 percent of MS sufferers begin with the Relapsing Remitting MS type.
Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (SPMS). After having experienced RRMS, about 90 percent of the sufferers progress into this stage where remissions are characterized by gradual deterioration in the nerve function with or without relapses. If ever relapses occur the MS worsens until the central nervous system is completely affected. Beside from some remissions following relapsing episode, no actual recovery is expected from this type. However, many sufferers of SPMS can still live fairly normal lives because progression is not sudden.
Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (PPMS). This type of MS may be difficult to diagnose since it is not preceded by any attack. PPMS is characterized by steady progression and worsening of the specific disease with no distinct periods of remission at all. However there could be temporary periods when the disease tends to level off and give minor relief to the patient, but the course of the disease continually declines. Affecting mostly men in their late thirties and or around early forties, the disease primarily attacks spinal cord which then causes walking difficulties in about 85 percent of sufferers. From the spinal cord, the disease then moves toward the brain, although patients are unlikely to have cognitive problems associated with damage to the brain.
Progressive Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis (PRMS). Roughly 5 percent of MS sufferers have this rarer form of multiple sclerosis, which is characterized by acute attacks with little recovery during few relapses. Immediately after a relapse, a significant recovery occurs, but in between relapses there is a gradual worsening of symptoms. The relapses, however, do not represent recovery of the central nervous system, but it simply serves as a break prior to more significant attacks. Unlike the Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, this type of MS does not level off.
Aside from the above mentioned four types of Multiple Sclerosis, there are also the so-called sub-types or other terms used to explain MS, such as:
Benign Multple Sclerosis. The term benign can be misleading as it implies that the impact of the disease is slight. Benign MS is actually a small group within the group of the Relapsing Remitting MS whose sufferers may have had the disease for so many years and during that period doesn’t pick up serious or enduring disability. Patients who have this type show little or no progression after the initial attack and may seem to remain fully functional, but they can experience cognitive dysfunction, short-term memory problems and may also show clinical evidence of brain or spinal atrophy. Benign MS can be as disabling as any other. Statistics revealed that of the 20 percent of patients initially diagnosed with Benign MS, only 5 percent actually fall into this category.
Malignant Multiple Sclerosis, which is medically known as Marburg’s Variant and Acute Multiple Sclerosis, is an extremely rare yet aggressive form of MS characterized by very rapid and relentless decline to significant disability in a short period or even death.
Chronic Progressive Multiple Sclerosis is a term no longer recognized but was used by physicians to lumped together Primary Progressive and Secondary Progressive or Progressive Relapsing MS.
Devic’s Disease, which is known also as Neuromyelitis Optica, is normally relate to a condition of multiple sclerosis. It is also characterized by an strike to the Optic Neuritis on both eyes which then followed by a acute inflammation the spinal cord.
Balo’s concentric sclerosisis another extremely rare disease more common in China and the Philippines than elsewhere. It appears like multiple sclerosis, although medically, it is difficult to distinguish between the two.
The types of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) mentioned above will affect people if different way and you might need to learn what are the ms symptoms.
Oral MS Medication
Canberra – The Health Ministry slashes down price of Gilenya, a multiple sclerosis oral treatment, effective Thursday. This was taken from The West newspaper in Australia.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon made the announcement amid speculations from MS lobby groups that its inclusion to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) could be deferred by the Federal Government, whose policy is to cut budget on new drugs. After the price reduction, Gilenya tablet will now cost $34 a script for a month-long course under PBS. The MS drug costs about $30,000 a year, and was more expensive than the other treatments for multiple sclerosis.
The move to reduce Gilenya’s price is hailed by multiple sclerosis patients who have had to bear the agony of constant injections as often as daily in the hospitals.
“A tablet is a hell of a lot easier than having a needle every second night,”
Fremantle architect Asher Galvin, 32, who was diagnosed with remitting relapsing multiple sclerosis three years ago said. Galvin has taken the drug for two months in a trial paid for by the drug’s maker, Novartis.
“Overall, my energy levels have increased and I don’t feel as drowsy in the morning,” Galvin added.
Gilenya has produced the first oral multiple sclerosis medication on PBS in which after several trials demonstrated that the pill, when taken on daily basis, will and can gradually reduce the progress of the multiple sclerosis disease and able to cut its relapse rates.
Earlier, British authorities, deterred by Gilenya’s high price, decided against making it available in the market because they did not believe it was a cost-effective medicine.
Meanwhile, Erbitux, the drug used to treat metastatic colorectal cancer, will soon be added to the PBS after late-stage bowel cancer patient groups lobbied for it. The unsubsidized cost of the drug is about $30,000 a year.
