For those living with multiple sclerosis, getting a confirmed diagnosis can be a blessing and a curse. You may be concerned about how life might change or be unsure about who you have to tell. Lisa Viola, DO Avera neurologist, explains what patients can expect after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
What is multiple sclerosis and how does it impact the body?
So in multiple sclerosis, what's happening is your immune system is abnormally recognizing something called myelin as a foreign substance, and so it will attack that.
The myelin is a coating, it's an insulator on your nerves in your central nervous system. When you have multiple sclerosis, you will get these attacks where your myelin will be kind of stripped off of the nerve cell, and then that signal can't propagate through the nerve.
What are the signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis?
That really depends on where in your nervous system it's happening. Sometimes it will happen in the area of your brain for sensation over a part of your body, or sometimes it's an area of your brain for your vision or your eyes lining up together. So you can get double vision, you can have balance issues, you can have an area in your spinal cord, so then you have difficulty with the sensation in your body pretty diffusely. So it's really quite variable and it just depends on what part of your nervous system is getting affected.
What can patients expect after their diagnosis?
Once that's made, then obviously you need to be involved with a neurologist who's a specialist in this, and then you can discuss what specific type of MS you have. If you do have a relapsing remitting type, then we recommend starting or at least considering being on one of the disease modifying therapies, which are the medications for MS. The reason why we like to do that is because it will help change the future course of the illness. It can stop progression. It can delay the onset of other problems later on. It can reduce your frequency of attacks. That being said, there is no formal cure. There is nothing that is a guarantee that's going to get rid of it 100%. But these medications have come such a long way that they're highly effective and people can really live a normal life and have dramatic improvement in their condition.
How do you encourage patients to stay positive on their MS journey?
I think part of it is just the anxiety of not knowing what that entails for you in the future. But knowing that there are a lot of medication options, first of all, there are a lot of other things you can do as far as working with physical and occupational therapists. There are things you can do with your diet, staying healthy, exercise, stopping smoking. These are all things that show some worsening in MS if you continue these things. So there are things that you can do as far as lifestyle, just having that support around you in your life and not letting it take over; living with MS as opposed to having it be an obstacle for you.
Avera Health offers comprehensive care for individuals with multiple sclerosis, including specialized neurology and therapy services, and support groups. They provide diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation to help manage the condition and improve quality of life.
Learn more about neurology services at Avera
