Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Support Group
This community is a place where members can discuss current events and weigh in on what's going on in the world.
This is an article from the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation about diseases that can mimic MS. Since I'm not diagnosed yet I found the article very interesting, I hope it might be useful for someone. :-)
http://www.msfacts.org/article-details.aspx?articleID=18
http://www.msfacts.org/article-details.aspx?articleID=18
~tj
While I agree that having MS is unpleasant, in the case of many of the mimics it is the lesser of the evils. I have Neuromyelitis Optica which presents with MS like symptoms in the very early stages of the disease course. Unfortunately, it does not share the same pathology and not only affects quality of life but quantity as well.
Within five years 50% of patients will already be permanently blind in at least one eye (often bilaterally) and paralyzed in one limb (often more). Within that same time frame roughly 33% will succumb during an acute attack. It has a very high morbidity and mortality rate. The demyelination that occurs, is not accomplished pathologically in the same way as an MS patient and the lesions are huge with the propensity to become necrotic.
They used to think that having a clean brain MRI excluded a diagnosis of NMO, but in the last years have discovered that while the initial brain MRI is often clean, eventually 625 of NMO patients will indeed have brain lesions though not in a pattern that is consistent with MS.
I would have given all that i had and more, to have been given an MS diagnosis as opposed to NMO.
Respectfully,
Grace (NMO+ since 2005)
Sorry. Vision is impaired
I was very lucky to end up at a very large teaching and researching facility and was definitively diagnosed via the Mayo clinic's NMO IgG test. The first two years were dreadful---paralyzed three times, functionally blind three times and in the hospital more than I was out of it.
Since 2007 I've been on Rituxan and have only had two mile relapses. Still, it is not *if* I will ever have another relapse, but *when and how severe*. I'm very thankful to be alive and just take it one day at a time. What else can one do?
Sincerely,
Grace
HI GRACIE!
Matter of fact, NMO is so much worse than ms, why would you waste your time on this board with us "healthy" people? Actually, why does this very group exist? We're all here complaining about hangnails??-Jeez, that's just pathetic. Are we playing spades here or something to see who trumps who? To be even less politically correct, I'll go as far as to say I'd much rather go quick than suffer torture of any given body function at random, for a god-awful number of years. Pfffft. Shame shame, I know your name....
And since you've opened the door to unwarranted, unsolicited percentage comparison: I'll throw one out from the very same Wiki page where you obtained your figures, but so un-slyly neglected to mention:
"The disease can be monophasic, i.e. a single episode with permanent remission." Rate of 15%. Oh boy, to be so lucky.
Since you're not-so-covertly stating "You think you've got it bad? Look at me..."---Go on the terminal cancer group's page and argue your case there. Maybe 6 mo. or less chapter. I'm sure they'd trade your blessed gift of life in a second. Nevermind that, go to the children's cancer ward of that awesome hospital you name-dropped. Tell little 6-year-old Jimmy he's got it easy. Hurry up, you just might miss him....
Apologies would not be accepted, but very marginally respected...
DisRespectfully,
F.I.O. (RRMS+ since 2001)
I think that you might have misinterpreted the point that I was attempting to make. The reply was in response to the last paragraph of response #5.
**If there is any possibility it could be something else (and even possibly treatable)... find out!!! It is definitely always in your better interests to NOT have MS.***
Of course MS is a serious disease, but in the case of diagnosis, particularly in regards to many of the mimics (not just the one I have) not having MS is not always better. Many patients are diagnosed with MS, start out on one of the DMD's only to continue to worsen, later discovering down the road that they don't have it at all, but rather something else that requires a totally different treatment protocol.
In the case of NMO patients, because the disease is demyelinating like MS, all too often it is missed in the early stages and categorized as MS. In the opposite sense, MS patients are frequently either undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed.
The point is that everything should be considered, and either ruled in or ruled out. For many patients, being misdiagnosed and being placed on the wrong treatment can mean the difference between remaining mobile, or being in a chair or bed. Being sighted, or being blind.
Grace.
Grace