I don't know the figures, but I understand it's not a given that it will progress to SP.

I read the statistics too when diagnosed. More than 50% will go to SP within 10 years from onset. That means 50% won't go to SP within 50% of onset.
And 90% of RRMS will go to SP within 25 years of onset. That means there are 10% who will not go to SP after onset. So for most it does turn to SP. But most people do not get MS and we beat the odds there, no reason why we can't beat the odds here.

In my profile is a graph of the transition from RR to SP showing lesions frequency, relapse frequency & recovery after lesion. It is one of my favorite graphs explaing this. Have a look at it.

I believe I will join the 10% club next year.

I would think it would depend on the age that one is diagnosed and the severity of symptoms as well, don't you guys think?

I did not get diagnosed until 55 yrs old so it's not the same as someone who has really bad attacks in their 30's right?

Plus the treatments being taken would play a role as well now, I would think. I don't know how old those statistics are that were credited in your article, but the CRAB drugs have not been out THAT long -- maybe they might skew the numbers further now?

Lots of variables here so I would take that sort of article with a grain of salt.

Very true marge. With a chronic illness, the longer someone has lived with the disease without disability means the less aggressive is their disease. When people post they have MS and they can trace their symptoms back to years ago. They believe they are giving an indication of how bad their MS is. But they are actually giving indication of how "unaggressive" their MS is.

I have read articles that said the pace of ones MS remains the same throughout their disease. So if it has gone slow and a person can trace their symptoms having started many years ago, it will likely remain at the same slow pace. Someone who has immediate disability on diagnosis, with no prior symptoms. Has a fast acting aggressive MS. It will be a worse course for them.

That was strange to me to realize, that the longer a person has had MS without being significantly disabled is an indication of a lower aggressiveness in their MS.

Add to that fact the MS damage is additive. So the longer a person has had MS the greater the additive effect. A person with MS is affected. A person with an aggressive MS may sustain the damage in a single episode,that a less aggressive MS may acquire after years of additive damage.

I think those statistics were developed before the CRAB drugs became available & I believe the statistics always state that when they release the data.

To my knowledge a tie between relapses & the conversion to SP has never been proven. It is more likely to be inherent within their particular MS.

The goal of MS treatment, the most logical thought to me is to reduce relapses as much as possible for quality of life & to reduce the opportunity for incomplete relapse which cause permanent damage, so a person is in as good of shape as possible when & if they get to SP where treatments do not exist.

A person who has acquired a lot of permanent damage in RR through incomplete recoveries and is still RR may be in "worse" shape than a person who did not acquire much damage in RR then went to SP at the same pace and ends up in much better shape than the person with an aggressive RRMS with a lot of incomplete recoveries.

So I'm not certain how meaningful RR versus SP is to disability? It would depend more on how aggressive is the MS whatever stage it is in.

And comparing to oneself. A person will be in worse shape in their SP period then they were in their RR period.

Its a progressive disease. A person will be in worse shape in the late stage of their own RRMS than they were in the early stage of their own RRMS. And a person will be in worse shape in SPMS compared to the shape they were in any of the RR stages.

How that compare to anyone else's RRMS or SPMS is like comparing apples to oranges. It doesn't compare. A person has to compare apples to apples: their own early RRMS, their own late RRMS & their own SPMS.

Not their own early RRMS compared to someone elses early MS. That would be apples compared to oranges.

If you do a search for MS & age you can get a site from Everyday Health.com discussing this. There are others also that present the same picture of MS acting aggressively at a later age. Keep in mind that everyone is different, however statistics are important. Unfortunately, a progressive disease cannot be ignored because as yet, there is no turning back. Consider disease modifying drugs.