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Understanding Multiple Sclerosis

This devastating neurological disease impacts health throughout the body. Learn more — including symptoms and treatment.

The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation estimates that more than 400,000 people in the United States suffer from multiple sclerosis, or MS. Approximately 200 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. weekly. The disease affects the central nervous system and there is currently no cure.

Jacqueline Marcus, MD, is a neurologist at the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center and the director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program, where 6,000 Kaiser Permanente members receive advice and assistance in receiving specialized care.

As an expert dedicated to MS, please tell us more about the disease.

Dr. Jacqueline Marcus

MS is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks normal tissues, specifically the brain and spinal cord. The result can include problems with muscle control and strength, bladder and bowel, vision, balance, speech, feeling, and thinking.

Patients may present with one or several symptoms. On average, it first appears in a person’s 20s or 30s. That said, I have seen newly diagnosed patients from 4 years old to into their late 60s. Currently, MS affects 1 in 1,000 people. It seems to be on the rise in women, but is diagnosed in either gender and any ethnicity.

We think that there are some environmental factors that increase risk of disease, such as a vitamin D deficiency. Your chances for MS are much higher if you live far north (or far south) of the equator for the first 15 years of your life. Also, research is incomplete, but there seems to be some genetic predisposition.

How does the disease first appear?

The first symptoms can run the gamut, depending upon which part of the nervous system gets affected. It’s a tricky disease because it can have so many symptoms as well as different degrees of progression, from steady to a sort of stop and start. At Kaiser Permanente, patients are most often first seen by a primary care physician, then referred to a neurologist. That doctor oversees the MS care and makes referrals to other subspecialists as needed.

While there is no cure, there has been a lot of research on MS. There’s a much greater understanding of how to treat the disease now versus 25 years ago. We are seeing that an early introduction of therapies suppressing the immune system and shutting down the disease is typically the best approach. Research shows there is a shortened life expectancy for people with MS, since they may be immobile and thus more susceptible to pneumonia and other byproducts of the disease.

What are some things that are less understood about this complex disease?

One of the hardest things for patients to accept is that the medications prescribed will not fix or cure them. Patients are used to getting a course of antibiotics and then an infection goes away. But MS medications are intended to prevent or decrease new inflammatory or neurological activity rather than take away what has already happened to the nervous system.

Additionally, with MS there may be multiple issues to juggle. For example, one person may be coping all at once with dizziness, insomnia, constipation, and medication side effects. As such, patients will have different priorities in just what to focus on, when, and how. Thus, it’s especially important for physicians and patients to partner on treatment.

What do you recommend for improving quality of life for sufferers?

My mother has MS and is also an instrumental music teacher. As a result, I’ve seen how music can relax and bring joy to MS sufferers. Physical therapy is also important to help people with diminished mobility. I recommend stretching to avoid spasticity, as well as eating well. With MS, the focus is on helping patients to be comfortable and treating their various symptoms.

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This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing how music and physical therapy can help people that have diminished mobility. Too many people assume they can’t do anything and will give up. However, any help could bring some joy to these people.

  2. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in October 2011, at the age of 55. I woke up one morning with numbness in my lower back and legs, I couldn’t feel my feet touching the floor. I saw my doctor and had an MRI to see if I had a disc problem, it was negative and she told me she feared MS. I was sent to a neurologist, had two more MRIs, and was told that night that I have four lesions on my spine MS. I tried every shots available but nothing worked. In 2015, my neurologist and I decided to go with natural treatment and was introduced to Natural Herbal Gardens natural organic MS Herbal formula, I had a total decline of symptoms with this treatment, the numbness, terrible back pains, stiffness, body weakness, double vision, depression, and others has subsided…

  3. Thank you, Dr. Marcus, for your article. You have chosen a difficult disease to specialize in and we (and our members) are very lucky to have you and others like you.

  4. One of the best doctors Kaiser has hired and I think our first MS Specialist in the area. I made the trip to see Dr. Marcus at French Camp campus before we hired another MS Specialist in the DSA, Dr. Oomen — both physicians are thoroughly committed to their MS patients and their wellness. I am blessed to have them both as doctors on my medical team.

  5. VERY sad disease. My son’s father was diagnosed in 1989 and discharged from the Marine Corps. At that time it was not determined 100% it was MS. A few years later they told him he had MS. Long story short, he gave up on life. His wife and children were not much support. We would call him often and he was not coherent. He would not remember my son. He did remember me, but at an early age of our life. He was going deaf and very forgetful. He was bedridden and his family made a decision to place him in a nursing home. He passed away on 12/29/16 at the age of 54. My son and I attended his funeral services and it was sad to see him passing at such a young age. Broke our hearts.

  6. Dr. Marcus is such an asset to KP! Not only is she a neurologist who maintains an understanding of the state-of-the-science treatment modalities, she also treats the whole person. Her value of the role of wellness and of rehabilitation helps people living with MS live fulfilling lives.

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