Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

What Increases Your Risk

Factors that can increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) include:

Geographic location where you lived during childhood (up to age 15). People who spend the first 15 years of their lives in higher latitudes in the northern hemisphere tend to be more likely to develop MS than people who lived closer to the equator during those years.3
Family history of MS. People who have a parent with MS are at a higher risk of developing the disease than people who have no family history of it.
Race. Whites are twice as likely as blacks to develop MS. Native Americans (American Indians) are at only slightly lower risk than whites
Gender. MS is about twice as common in women as in men

Symptoms

People who have symptoms may come and go or become more or less severe from day to day and, rarely, from hour to hour. Symptoms may become more severe with increased (or, less commonly, decreased) body temperature or after a viral infection.

Early symptoms

The most common early symptoms of MS include:

Muscle (motor) symptoms, such as weakness, leg dragging, stiffness, a tendency to drop things, a feeling of heaviness, clumsiness, or a lack of coordination (ataxia).
Visual symptoms, such as blurred, foggy, or hazy vision, eyeball pain (especially with movement), blindness, or double vision. At some point in the course of the disease, about 40% of people have an attack of optic neuritis, which causes sudden vision loss and eye pain, usually in only one eye.

Less common early symptoms include:

Sensory symptoms, such as tingling, a pins-and-needles sensation, numbness, a bandlike tightness around the trunk or limbs, or electrical sensations moving down the back and limbs.
Balance symptoms, such as lightheadedness or dizziness, and a spinning feeling (vertigo).
Bladder symptoms, such as an inability to hold urine (urinary incontinence), an inability to completely empty the bladder, a loss of bladder sensation (the person is unable to sense the bladder becoming full until there is a sudden, urgent need to urinate), or a loss of male sexual function.

Advanced symptoms

As MS progresses, symptoms may become more severe and may include:

Stiff, mechanical movements (spasticity) or uncontrollable shaking (tremor).
Pain and other sensory symptoms.
Inability to control urination (incontinence) or, less often, an inability to urinate (urinary retention).
Constipation and other bowel disorders.
Impotence (erectile dysfunction) in men.

Thinking (cognitive) and emotional problems are common in people who have had MS for some time. They rarely occur as a result of the first attack of MS. Since cognitive and emotional problems may be treatable or may be caused by conditions other than MS, you should always mention any new symptoms to your doctor.

Cognitive problems may include memory loss, difficulty in concentration, reduced attention span, or difficulty finding the correct words.
Emotional symptoms may include depression, anxiety, and anger. A rare symptom is excessive cheerfulness that seems inappropriate

Cause

The cause of multiple sclerosis (MS)is unknown. Because a person's risk of MS is higher when a parent has MS, genetic factors may play a role in causing the disease.
The unusual relationship between a person's geographic location during childhood and the risk of MS later in life suggests that there may be environmental factors at work in the disease. Some researchers think that these may be viral illnesses or other infectious diseases. However, there is no clear proof that any specific infection causes MS.
Furthermore, a childhood viral illness or other environmental factor by itself is not enough to explain why some people later develop MS. A growing body of research suggests that a problem with the body's natural defense system (immune system) occurring later in life may trigger the onset of MS in people who were exposed to certain factors during childhood. The "trigger" may be an autoimmune reaction in which the immune system attacks myelin, the protein coating that protects nerve fibers.
Other factors have been proposed as triggers of MS, but none have been proven.

Source: Healthwise, Inc.