what is the outcome of multiple sclerosis?

Answer 1

The outcome depends on many variables, including care, outlook, the type of MS you (or loved one) has, and the treatment you opt for. The outcome can possibly be death, but it could also be a relatively normal life with death occurring from some unrelated cause.

A positive or negative outlook, and the resulting behavioral patterns can have a significant impact on the course of the disease. To illustrate the impact of the person's outlook, 15% (according to some estimates, per Wikipedia.org) of deaths of people with MS are due to suicide. Most suicide attempts are unsuccessful.

Answer 2

It is different for everybody who has it. For some people it is what is called relapsing remitting. In other words the symptoms come and go. For other people the disease becomes progressive and greatly limits how they live. The disease can involve physical symptoms such as lack of good balance, slurred speech and blurry vision. Depression and cognitive problems are also frequently symptoms. However, there are many people who never suffer serious problems with any of the symptoms. They have full time jobs and raise families. You can never predict what will happen if you have the disease. People who have it live normal life spans and the disease is very rarely fatal. The disease also does not attack the major organs of the body. I strongly suggest you look at the National Multiple Sclerosis web site. (nmss.org)

Answer 3

MS is not a fatal disease. People with MS usually have normal life-spans.

MS is an individual disease and it is impossible to predict the outcome of MS. The majority of people with MS do not become severely disabled. Many people lead completely normal lives and are relatively unaffected by the disease. The worst cases end up in a wheel chair with little or no strength in their hands and arms. Speech can be affected to the point where the MS-patient more or less lose the ability to talk. Memory can be affected to the point where the use of notebooks and memory beepers can be necessary. Sight can be affected, but MS rarely leads to blindness. Severe fatigue can be a limiting factor in a MS-affected person's ability to lead a normal life.

A rule of thumb is that the progression first five years after the onset of symptoms will be an indicator of the further progression of the disease, but it's not a hard and fast rule. Dormant MS can suddenly become aggressive and aggressive MS can suddenly go dormant.

(MS is sometimes confused with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), but they are two different diseases. MS does not affect a person's ability to breathe).

Answer 4

It may take years but death will occur. We have Myelin sheaths that are wrapped around our nerves. Those sheaths carry the messages from our brains to the parts of our body they need to go. When those Myelin sheaths deteriorate, the messages from the brain to move a part of your body have no Myelin highway to carry the brains message to that particular part of the body. After a while, all the automatic things like breathing and blinking and swallowing and feeling pain just don't happen anymore. I know because my younger brother is in a nursing home for it and he can't even get out of bed or talk anymore.

Answer 5

I work in a nursing home and the above answer is correct. All too correct give her 10 pts.