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World MS Day Multiple sclerosis has more than 1,000 faces
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in Central Europe, with women being affected about twice as often as men. Despite intensive research, the disease is considered incurable. Nevertheless, researchers are cautiously optimistic about the future. Thanks to new drugs, MS is becoming increasingly manageable. In the run-up to the World MS Day, which will take place on 27 May, the news agency "dpa" talked to patients and doctors about the disease.
Multiple sclerosis usually occurs in disease relapses
In MS, inflammation of parts of the nervous system in the spinal cord or brain causes sufferers to suffer from neurological limitations. This can manifest itself, for example, in muscle twitching and spasticity, numbness and other abnormal sensations, especially in the limbs and visual disturbances. MS is also referred to as the "Disease of the 1,000 Faces" because the course of the disease varies greatly. The symptoms vary greatly. It is estimated that around 200,000 people in Germany suffer from MS. Usually, the first symptoms appear between the ages of 15 and 40 as part of a push.
Multiple sclerosis attacks the central nervous system. Image: designua / fotolia.com The now 59-year-old Maria Eifrig was diagnosed at age 43. The programmer is in a wheelchair, she suffers from spasticity. By 2007, she was steadily worse, because the disease attacked her nervous and immune system. Meanwhile, she has arranged with MS. The electric wheelchair has made her much more mobile, she reports. "I can sit up with him, even stand up. I even do sports with it. "With the help of her swiveling wheelchair, she straightens up and down and moves as many muscles as possible. Even typing on the computer keyboard is training for them. The 59-year-old belongs to the MS self-help group in Münster.
Not every multiple sclerosis patient needs a wheelchair
"Most people think MS automatically gets into a wheelchair - that's nonsense, of course," says a visitor to the MS Sunday Café. Another visitor to the event, Christoph Carstensen, says that he was diagnosed at the age of 27. He is rarely dependent on a wheelchair. A stick and a walker eased his back on bad days. He also gets along without a walker. Even the 54-year-old Thomas Nienhaus, who has known of his illness for 21 years, gets by without a wheelchair. He has two relapses per year, although his treatment with interferon works well. Nienhaus is lucky, because a drug does not always work as well as with him. Many remedies have strong side effects or do not work equally well in every patient. "We want to control this disease in the best possible way. But patients have to decide for themselves if they are willing to risk, for example, a deadly virus infection in the brain. The risk for this is very different and lies between 1: 100 and 1:10 000 ", explains Prof. Heinz Wiendl of the University of Münster.Since the drug weakens the immune system, the very effective therapy could then be deadly, but the research makes Wiendl "With the help of certain biomarkers in the blood, we can better assess the risk to a patient," says the neurologist, making it much easier to find the right drug. "I'm well over 20 years old Nienhaus said: "It was the right decision, as it shows to this day, MS is still not fully controllable." In 10, maybe 20 years are we're ready, "Wiendl believes.
No vaccine against multiple sclerosis in sight
"The diagnosis of MS is no longer a death sentence. New patients can be helped very efficiently and they can live with MS for a very long time, "explains Prof. Burkhard Becher from the University of Zurich, who is researching at the Institute for Experimental Immunology. However, he points out, research is still a long way from achieving a definitive cure for the disease. The development of a vaccine against MS is still a long way off. However, more than 100 MS risk genes have been identified that control the immune system. This is why MS is primarily an immune disease that only causes damage to the brain as a result. The treatment of MS illustrated Becher on the example of caries: "When you went to the dentist then you have not defeated the caries. But the doctor could give you the pain of a treatment in which he filled a hole with a substitute, for example. "It is a big step forward that today's sufferers no longer need to receive injections. The drugs are now available in tablet form or as monthly injections. "The future belongs to the researchers, who succeed in the so-called Neuroprotektion, so if destroyed tissue can be restored," says Becher. However, research is still far from that. (Ag)
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