1. Multiple Sclerosis

2. What is it?
Multiple Sclerosis (ms) is autoimmune, potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord. The immune system attacks its own protective shield that covers the nerves that communicate from the body to the brain.

3. What does MS do to the body?
MS attacks the myelin which protects nerve fibers
When the myelin is attacked the signals from the nerves are slowed down because the myelin acts a conductor and helps to make the messages move quicker. This leads to a communication breakdown. Also, once the nerve fibers are expose disease can cause permanent damage.

4. Is MS contagious?
NO, spending time with people who have ms will not increase or decrease your likelihood of receiving the disease.
Fact:
People with MS often have a constant ringing in their ears and cannot hear very well.

5. How can a person get MS?
The cause of ms is unknown. It has not been scientifically proven to run through genetics and it is not contractible by spending too much time with a person who has ms. Many scientists agree that it is a combination of social environment and genetics.

6. What are the early symptoms?
Numbness
Double vision
Random pains or spasm
Weakness or fatigue
Depression/mood swings

7. What are the Later Symptoms?
Paralysis
Muscle stiffness or spasms
Epilepsy
Difficulty chewing/swallowing
Speech difficulties
Problems with memory/thinking
Pain when moving
Impaired vision
Fact:
Some people with MS have compared the feeling they encounter in their limbs to the feeling of your legs “falling asleep.”

8. Treatments
There are many forms of treatment, but no cure. Treatment can be received through self-injection, pills, and Iv infusion.
Fact:
People with “MS” can sometimes have “attacks” where they lose all feelings in their legs and collapse.

9. What does the Treatment do?
Treatment can…
Reduce the number of relapses
Reduce the severity of relapses
Reduce the area attacked by ms
Can delay the progression of ms
Fact:
When the weather is very hot or cold people with MS’s symptoms get worse and it can be much harder to move.

10. Helpful Orginizations
National Ms society
Ms association of America
Myelin repair foundation
Fly for ms
Ms society- one of leading orginizations trying to find a cure for ms. Host walks and orginizations to get their money.
Msaa- also raise money, instead try and help people who have ms and may need money for treatment or other reasons.
Myelin repair foundation- funds basic research and has gotten as far as testing their medicines on animals
Fly for ms- fly all over the world raising awareness about ms. They also hold clinics in 3rd world countries to test for MS and possibly help treat it.

11. Works Cited
"Home." National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Ms Society, 29 Mar Web. 05 Apr <
"Receive Updates." MSAA: The Multiple Sclerosis Association Of America. MSAA, n.d. Web. 05 Apr <
Mayo Clinic Staff Print. "Overview." Mayo Clinic. N.p., 01 Apr Web. 05 Apr < conditions/multiple-sclerosis/home/ovc >.