The Face of Multiple Sclerosis

My class this month was an online course, Medical Terminology. Just so we don't get off too easy with it, one of the requirements was to write a paper on a disease of our choice. I chose to write on multiple sclerosis because my dear little cousin Louisa has just been diagnosed with it at the age of 18, and I hardly knew anything about the disease. I happen to work with someone who also suffers from this disease so I interviewed her for my paper. Following is my MS paper as turned in to my professor:
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The Face of Multiple Sclerosis

Imagine an illness with which you experience periods of numbness in your legs, migraine headaches, blurred vision, extreme weakness and fatigue, clumsiness, chronic forgetfulness, and an inability to think without “blanking out.” For 31 year old Kim Bradley, mother of two from Bowling Green, Kentucky, this is more than something just to imagine–it’s her reality. Kim has multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease of the nervous system.

Although remembering herself to be a clumsy teen–and called “Messy Marvin” by her peers–Kim never thought to question the condition of her health until 1996. At 23 years of age, she found herself pregnant and experiencing her first bout of numbness in her legs and severe migraine headaches. An MRI ensued, followed by a spinal tap. The MRI showed lesions on Kim’s brain, and the spinal tap tested positive for multiple sclerosis. “I was devastated,” she said. “You may as well have told me I had cancer and had only a short time to live.” Kim went to Vanderbilt for a second opinion where she was “undiagnosed” because she had not yet experienced an MS exacerbation.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), multiple sclerosis is “a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord)”(Natl. MS Society). The nervous system is organized into the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The central nervous system is comprised of the brain and spinal cord, while the peripheral nervous system are those things that lie laterally, physically attached to the spinal cord, including the nerves and associated structures. The nerve fibers in the central nervous system are surrounded by a protective substance called a myelin sheath. When the myelin sheaths are attacked by the body, they are damaged and form hardened scar tissue (scleroses) around the nerve fibers. Although the fibers themselves are undamaged, nerve conduction is often interrupted or slowed, which gives way to the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, i.e., clumsiness, vision difficulties, numbness, and numerous others that vary from person to person. A person with multiple sclerosis goes through cycles of relapses, often called exacerbations, and remissions. An exacerbation is a period of active symptoms, and remission is a symptom-free period (Marieb 407-408).

According to NMSS, 400,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis. Additionally, most are diagnosed between ages of 20 and 50, and most are women. Most of those diagnosed with MS have grown up in northern climates. Kim grew up in Delaware.

It was not until 1999, when Kim was pregnant with her second child, however–three years after being diagnosed and then subsequently undiagnosed–that she went through her first exacerbation. Kim made some lifestyle changes thereafter, including major weight loss and smoking cessation. She also began to exercise regularly. And from then until recently, her periods of exacerbation were infrequent, averaging about once a year. Kim has been able to lead a relatively normal lifestyle.

Kim’s MS symptoms seem to be triggered by stress, heat, corn, ketchup, aspartame (an ingredient in diet sodas), and pregnancy. She avoids these food products as well as chocolate. She avoids tanning beds because of heat intolerance; she can, however, be in the sun as long as she is in water which keeps her cool. Kim says the most aggravating symptom of her MS is when she wants to say something and is unable to articulate it.

When Kim goes into exacerbation, she must go into the hospital for steroid treatment. Kim describes her three-day hospital admissions as “horrible experiences.” On day one, she typically experiences heart palpitations and elevated blood sugar. Day two brings on headaches, itching, and skin edema. On day three, Kim says she gets little lumps on her skin–painful little tumors. Her skin pores expand and swell up, and she says she looks like a “puffalump.” She also experiences excessive energy and wants to eat non stop. Inevitably, she subsequently “crashes.” And then life is back to normal.

As this paper is being written, Kim is in exacerbation. What was once an annual exacerbation is now becoming a quarterly occurrence, and her doctor believes her body is becoming resistant to the steroids she has been given in the past as treatment for her exacerbations. Her doctor has switched her from Solumedrol to an alternate steroid, in a much stronger dose. This is day seven, and although she is now home from the hospital and recovering, her body has not responded well to the new steroid. In addition to a magnification of what she normally goes through, she has been unable to sleep and describes her post-treatment behavior as “psychotic.” She also experienced hallucinations and panic attacks with the new steroid treatment.

Kim believes that dealing with multiple sclerosis is also a mental thing. She does not attend support groups for MS because the one time she went, the topic of discussion was about getting great deals on wheel chairs. Kim does not want to end up in a wheel chair. She says you must not give in to the disease and must always fight it.

Kim is my coworker. She is an upbeat person with an infectious laugh. She loves her husband, Doug, and two small boys, Justin and Jordan. And until a cure for multiple sclerosis is found, Kim’s journey will continue—with both its highs and its lows. With Kim’s strength of character and resilience, however, complemented by supportive family and friends, she has the capacity to conquer this often debilitating disease. Friend, wife, mother—Kim is the face of multiple sclerosis.
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Works Cited

Bradley, Kim. Personal Interview. 20 July 2005.

Marieb, Elaine N. Human Anatomy and Physiology. California: Pearson Education, Inc, 2004.

National Multiple Sclerosis Society. What is MS? 2004. 21 July 2005 .