Subscribe to Canada Free Press for FREE

Neurology and Health

Multiple Sclerosis, symptoms and options

New Hope For Multiple Sclerosis Patients

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

September 16, 2001

Why is it that the farther away you live from the equator the greater the risk of developing Multiple Sclerosis (MS)? This nervous system disease is surrounded by many uncertainties. But I learned at the 17th World Congress of Neurology in London, England, that at least one question surrounding treatment of the disease is resolved. A drug "Rebif" has proven that higher, more frequent doses of medication yield better results than lower less frequent dosing.

Multiple Sclerosis is the most common neurological disorder affecting young adults in the prime of life. The average age of onset is between 20 and 30 years of age. Today there are 50,000 Canadians (400,000 Americans) with MS and it's twice as common in women as in men. Since MS can attack any nerve there's no one common symptom. But the diary of Queen Victoria's cousin, Augustus Frederick d' Este, reads like a medical description of it.

D'Estes writes that after the funeral of a close relative he suddenly became blind for several days and then his vision returned. Five years later he noticed numbness and weakness of the legs. Thirteen years later he was troubled by fecal incontinence, unsteadiness of gait, dizzy spells and eventual confinement to a wheelchair.

So what is Multiple Sclerosis? Trees die if you strip away their bark and the same holds true for nerves. MS damages the myelin sheath that surrounds the nerve and we now know that it also injures the nerve itself.

MS attacks the nervous system in different ways. 20 percent of patients are lucky. They suffer from only a few episodes or attacks at intervals of several years resulting in hardly any permanent disability.

But the majority of patients experience recurrent attacks lasting days or weeks along with increasing disability. And the more the myelin sheath and nerve are damaged, the greater the physical impairment. Coldness, dampness, injuries, emotional stresses, infections, toxins, nutritional deficiencies have all been implicated as causes of MS. But there's no evidence to support these theories. Nor is it believed to be a genetic disease. But there is a higher incidence among family members particularly among identical twins.

No definitive laboratory test can diagnose MS. Rather, diagnosis is based on the patient's symptoms, analysis of cerebral spinal fluid, nerve conduction tests and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

MRIs scans show areas of inflammation which are sometimes resolved completely but which usually leave areas of permanent scarring. These show up as lighter areas and are referred to as "plaques". Brain scans are abnormal in 95 percent of people with MS.

There is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis. But administration of disease modifying drugs like Rebif can help delay the progression of the disease and allow patients to manage their lives better. Currently there four drugs approved for use in Canada for the treatment of relapsing MS.

It's been a long, slow process developing drugs to treat MS. Today's therapy involves the use of interferons which are normally produced in the body and play a role in the immune system. They were first discovered by their ability to interfere with the reproduction of viruses.

There are several types of interferon, referred to as alpha, beta and gamma. But interferon beta is the one that helps to reduce inflammation in the brain and therefore decrease damage to nervous tissue.

"Rebif" is interferon beta produced by DNA technology and is identical to naturally occurring interferon beta.

Researchers at The 17th World Congress reported that a large study called Evidence, which directly compared Rebif with another interferon beta medication showed that Rebif was more effective at reducing the number of attacks and suppressing MS brain plaques seen on MRI's. In effect, the key message for doctors was that higher, more frequent dosing of interferon beta was better than lower less frequent dosing.

The higher dose (44 microgram, given three times per week) of Rebif is self©injected under the skin and is generally well tolerated. The usual side©effects are flu©like symptoms and skin reactions at the site of injection. These side©effects usually diminish after a few months of treatment.

I was hoping that my London trip would have some good news for a colleague who is disabled by one of the more progressive forms of Ô MS. But Rebifà is most effective while MS is still "active" or "relapsing". More reason to treat MS as early as possible.


W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1

Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones
Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod