Multiple Sclerosis

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 12, 23 August 1983, Page 15

Multiple Sclerosis

To focus attention on a baffling disease that strikes many young adults and invite public support to fight this disease, the multiple sclerosis movement in New Zealand is holding its national postal appeal over the week from August 20 to 26. Multiple sclerosis, or MS as it is now widely referred to, is a disease that attacks the myelin sheath of the central nervous system, destroying it in patches. Myelin is the substance which insulates the nerve fibres of the brain and spinal cord, and when it is destroyed the nerve impulses are interrupted and distorted. The path of the disease varies widely among individuals. Some have mild cases and are able to live nearly normal lives, while others get frequent attacks and become severely crippled within a few years. There is however, a common pattern in the progression of multiple sclerosis among many patients. It is almost always initially diagnosed in men and women between the ages Of 20 and 40 — prime career and family-building years — and it tends to strike more women ^A^n men. ^^When attacks of MS occur, the patient can lose the control of many normal body functions. Arms or legs can become paralysed. There can be a loss of co-ordination. Extreme weakness and double vision are common, and the patient can experience speech and hearing difficulties. Attacks are usually followed by periods of remission when many of these lost functions are regained. Each successive attack, however, usually results in some permanent increase in disability. There is no way to predict the frequency of attacks or the length of remission period^. Some patients go months or even years without further difficulty. Many patients are able to continue active lives for a Jmug time, while others are in ^^Peelchairs or bedridden within a few years. At present, cause, prevention and cure are unknown; in fact, MS represents a profound medical mystery. New Zealand is a high risk country for MS and it is estimated that this country has between 2000 and 3000 MS patients, most of them between the ages 25-60. The multiple sclerosis movement in New Zealand was started by regional MS societies over 20 years ago to develop services for patients and to promote research into the disease's cause and possible cure. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society of New Zealand Inc. was formed in 1968 to give the separate regional groups a national focus , and cohesion, provide co-ordination of effort and the extra muscle of combined representation when approaching the Government or government departments, and to encourage and assist financially and otherwise the formation of new regional societies. The regional MS societies provide an understanding of

the problems, advice based on experience, a counselling service, assistance, friendship, encouragement and a sense of togetherness in the common fight against MS. One of the main aims of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is the sponsoring of medical research — both clinical and scientific — into the cause of the disease. At no time has multiple sclerosis been the subject of

such intense investigation as at present. As a result, the possibility of major advances in the search for its cause is probably greater than it has ever been. MS is one of the most crippling afflictions since polio, and it should not exist in our world today. Dr Jonas Salk, discoverer of the polio vaccine, said recently: "MS is a disease whose time has come.