Shut up and learn - The MS post

A friend of mine is doing her masters thesis on multiple sclerosis and set up a post on her MySpace page to let the Milwaukee folks know about food and beer on St. Pat's this year, so I dropped her a line asking about it.

In all honesty, my knowledge of MS starts and ends with what I learned from Martin Sheen on the West Wing and that's probably not very smart, considering how often television leads me astray.

So, even though we are at the tail end of National Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week, there's no time like the present to fix some of that ignorance, right?

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that is autoimmune in nature- meaning the body's own defense system (the immune system) is actually attacking your nervous system.

This is what causes the symptoms of MS. It typically begins with tingling or muscle twitches in the extremities. Disease course can very widely from person to person, but it is typically charaterized with an acute attack of symptoms, followed by a period where the person seems to get better.

Eventually the disease progresses to the point where the patient steadily declines. MS typically does not kill someone, rather it makes their quality of life much lower. Paralysis is the common result of most MS patients. Blindness is also very common.

As far as statistics go, MS like all autoimmune diseases strikes women far more frequently than men. However, when men are affected, it tends to have a worse prognosis. It is estimated that 2.5 million people worldwide are affected. About 400,000 of those are Americans.

Disease incidence varies depending on where you live. We are not sure why, but the further from the equator, the higher the incidence. Recent evidence has pointed at vitamin D being involved somehow.

For example, incidence in Texas is about 1 in 10,000 while incidence in Wisconsin is closer to 1 in 500.

Some famous people with MS- Montel Williams, Annette Funicello, Teri Garr, Richard Pryor died from MS, and the guy that played "Squiggy" on Laverne and Shirley.

Like I said in my blog, the new ad campaign was done completely free because one of the heads of the ad agency that has done the Nike swoosh/ Just Do It campaign has a daughter with MS.

As far as treatments go, there are many right now, but most of them are mainly treating symptoms- muscle tremors and such. Also, a lot of the drugs are similar to drugs given to transplant patients that decreases the whole immune system.

The newest drug on the market is actually aimed at blocking the movement of immune cells into the central nervous system. MS is one of the diseases that we believe can benefit greatly from stem cell research. UW-Madison is one of the leaders in this area.

The National MS Society is using this week to kick off their new ad campaign. The theme of the new campaign is "MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn't. Join the movement."

Check out the new website, www.jointhemovement.org or the Wisconsin MS society site, www.wisms.org.

Also, for anyone in the area that is looking for something to do on St. Patrick's Day this year, my bike team is hosting our fifth annual Blarney Bash for MS. It's taking place at Serb Hall in Milwaukee from 6:30pm to midnight. There is food from 7-9:30pm and beer and soda are included in the ticket price.

Most of the area microbreweries donate beer for our beer tasting. Plus, we have tons of raffles and silent auctions. Tickets are $20 if purchased ahead of time and $30 at the door. Even if you can't come, please educate yourselves on MS and support this cause in any way possible. You can find out more on Team Wendy at www.teamwendy.org. We are coming closer every day to a cure. Join the Movement.

(Image from BrainExplorer.org)