MS

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating disease that affects approximately 400,000 Americans. It occurs two to three more times in women than in men and is most prevalent in women in their early thirties which makes researcher believe hormones play a significant role in developing MS. Patients can go through periods of relapse and remission with the possibility of the symptoms getting progressively worse with each occurrence. Statistics show that eighty percent who have MS will live twenty or plus years after its onset. Even with all the recent medical advances and research, MS is an overwhelming diagnosis to encounter.

Multiple sclerosis is an immune mediated disease, although many researchers argue it is an autoimmune disease. MS causes the body to create an abnormal immune response to the Central Nervous System (CNS). The CNS is the body’s processing center. It consists of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. The axon of these nerve cells are coated with a myelin sheath, a fatty substance that surrounds the nerve endings. This sheath protects and insulates the axons allowing electrical impulses to pass freely from one nerve cell to the next. MS causes the body’s immune system to produce T-cells that pass from the bloodstream and into the central nervous system. The T-cells directly attack the nerve cells as if they were a foreign substance. They destroy the myelin coating around nerve fibers. When any part of the myelin is damaged scar tissue forms around the nerve ending. This demyelination and scaring causes lesions on the nerves. The lesions prevent impulses from traveling throughout the body and hinders the body’s response to afferent and efferent signals being sent to and from the brain.

Once the sclerosis...

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...iple sclerosis.

The medical assistant’s role in helping those suffering from MS can be invaluable. Educating the patient on their condition will help them better to understand the nature of their disease. An assistant can encourage patients as they work their way through the grieving possess and help them take positive step in dealing with MS Finding resources that provides the answers to their many questions can help alleviate some of the anxiety that they may feel. Also, putting the patient in contact with organizations such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society can be a huge help. Not only can the MS Society provide information, they can also provide financial aid and home modification assistance. Even simple things such as appointment reminders, refilling medications and explaining paperwork can make the patient feel they are not alone in their journey with MS.