The Impact of Multiple Sclerosis on a Patient's Life

2189 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Multiple sclerosis and how it affects people

The impact of Multiple Sclerosis on a patient’s life Introduction Eight years ago my mother was diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis, the most common form of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affecting up to 85% of the MS patients, with twice as many women being affected as men1. It was a very difficult period for her as she had received very little support from her family and I find it fascinating how she managed to withstand the pressure and fight her condition despite all the odds being against her. For these reasons, I composed a poem from my mother’s point of view to try to empathize with her experience and understand the underlying issues of her condition. To have a sound foundation for this poem, I have carried out a written interview with her trying to identify how her condition affected her mentally and physically and to further investigate the role of different events in her life that may have contributed to her MS onset and progression. I will do this by analysing the findings of the interview using the Holistic Tool Assessment analysis. This essay will be divided into two parts. In the first part, we will look at how different events, decisions and relationships may have contributed to her MS onset. In the second part, we will link these factors to psychoneuroimmunological concepts of MS and explore how these factors may have contributed to her illness on a more pathological level. Literature review What is Multiple Sclerosis? Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune, inflammatory neurological disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS) resulting in demyelination of myelinated axons in the CNS.1. With its underlying pathology being poorly understood, MS remains incurable; the number of relapses, never... ... middle of paper ... ...d K, Gold SM, Grabe HJ, et al. Childhood trauma in multiple sclerosis: a case-control study. Psychosom Med. 2012 Apr;74(3):312–8. 7. Palumbo R, Fontanillas L, Salmaggi A, Mantia LL, Milanese C. Stressful life events and multiple sclerosis: a retrospective study. Ital J Neuro Sci. 1998 Aug 1;19(4):259. Furthermore, Palumbo et al. conducted a retrospective study, in which they found out that “16/65 (26.5%) patients reported a stressful event in the year preceding MS onset”, 7 of which reported death of a parent7, suggesting that my mum’s testimony of her mother’s tragic death could have indeed be a predisposing factor for her MS, especially since it could be argued that such an early trauma in life may be significantly more stressful for the child than for a mature adult, as the child has no means of reaching for help unless it is given to him by someone.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Nancy Mairs Living Under Circe's Spell

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, I am not going to spend a long time describing the nitty-gritty of this because there is an elephant in the room. Both of these writings are on a terrible chronic disease affecting millions of people worldwide. What’s worse is that millions and millions more do not even know that this disease exists. I remember when I sprained my ankle while playing baseball, it was so bad that I needed crutches for two weeks and had to keep my foot wrapped for multiple weeks after. The incident took me out for the rest of the season, where my little league team got very close to going into the postseason but fell short. Due to my absence, I felt partly responsible for my team’s loss. I cannot begin to fathom the effect that MS would have in my life

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Guillain Barre Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis Related to Central and Peripheral Nervous Pathologies

    2431 Words  | 5 Pages

    Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease affecting the myelination of the central nervous system, leading to numerous issues regarding muscle strength, coordination, balance, sensation, vision, and even some cognitive defects. Unfortunately, the etiology of MS is not known, however, it is generally thought of and accepted as being an autoimmune disorder inside of the central nervous system (Rietberg, et al. 2004). According to a study (Noonan, et al. 2010) on the prevalence of MS, the disease affects more than 1 million people across the world, and approximately 85% of those that are affected will suffer from unpredictably occurring sessions of exacerbations and remissions. The report (Noonan, et al. 2010) found that the prevalence of MS was much higher in women than in men, and that it was also higher in non-Hispanic whites than in other racial or ethnic groups throughout the 3 regions of the United States that were studied.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of On Being A Cripple By Nancy Mair

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her essay is arranged in such a way that her audience can understand her life - the positives and the negatives. She allows her audience to see both sides of her life, both the harsh realities that she must suffer as well as her average day-to-day life. According to Nancy, multiple sclerosis “...has opened and enriched my life enormously. This sense that my fragility and need must be mirrored in others, that in search for and shaping a stable core in a life wrenched by change and loss, change and loss, I must recognize the same process, under individual conditions, in the lives around me. I do not deprecate such knowledge” (Mairs, 37). Mairs big claim is that she has accepted herself and her condition for what is it, yet she refuses to allow her condition to define her. Through her particular diction, tone, satire, and rhetorical elements, Mairs paints a picture of her life and shows how being a cripple has not prevent her from living her life. She is not embarrassed nor ashamed of what she is, and accepts her condition by making the most of it and wearing the title with

    Read More

  • Common Assignment: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

    540 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Ms. M, when she was a child her mother was very resolute and strong-willed. Despite Ms. M’s disability, her mother expected her to do things just like other children, and was intolerant of any excuses made by Ms. M in regard to her physical state. Ms. M described her mother’s behavior as insensitive at times. She reported her mother would often be disparaging and ridiculing towards her when she would act out her frustrations that arose from being pushed too hard. Ms. M expressed that although it was difficult for her as a child, she is now appreciative of her mother’s harsh and determined parenting because she believes that without her mother’s resolve and convictions, she would not be successful today.

    Read More

  • Multiple Sclerosis Case Study

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. The central nervous system (CNS) comprises of the brain and the spinal cord. CNS is coated and protected by myelin sheath that is made of fatty tissues (Slomski, 2005). The inflammation and damage of the myelin sheath causing it to form a scar (sclerosis). This results in a number of physical and mental symptoms, including weakness, loss of coordination, and loss of speech and vision. The way the disease affect people is always different; some people experience only a single attack and recover quickly, while others condition degenerate over time (Wexler, 2013). Hence, the diagnosis of MS is mostly done by eliminating the symptoms of other diseases. Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects both men and women, but generally, it is more common in women more than men. The disease is most usually diagnosed between ages 20 and 40, however, it can occur at any age. Someone with a family history of the disease is more likely to suffer from it. Although MS is not

    Read More

  • Multiple Sclerosis Essay

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complicated chronic deteriorating disease that has an effect on the central nervous system (CNS). This disease causes destruction of the myelin around the nerve fibers. “The exact etiology of Multiple Sclerosis is unknown; however, it is thought to be an immune mediated disease. MS is characterized by CNS inflammation, demyelination, and axonal loss” (Compston & Coles, 2008). Typically, it is described by early relapses and remissions of neurological signs of the CNS. This is known as relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). MS can be identified by a variety of known risk factors. Multiple Sclerosis can be brought on by a mixture of inherited and environmental risk factors such as smoking or an exposure to a virus like Epstein Barr. The inflammatory process has an interesting role on the central nervous system.

    Read More

  • Multiple Sclerosis Essay

    2347 Words  | 5 Pages

    The clinical picture of the disease is rich and variated. Usually it starts with motor symptoms together with visual disturbances. The later progression is depending on the part of the CNS affected. MS can present itself in several clinical courses with the relapsing remmitting beeing the most common in the begging. The secondary progressive course is a sequent and gives a much worse prognosis. The benign form, even though it’s not well defined, is usually a random find in MRI and no clinical symptoms. In the most severe cases MS can lead to death.

    Read More

  • Multiple Sclerosis Essay

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... resulting impairment to the CNS. The first group of mice exhibited a pattern of CNS inflammation that resembled that of the most common subtype of MS, RRMS, with lesions filled with macrophages, a type of immune defender cell. The second group of mice displayed inflammation deep in the CNS tissues and in the optic nerve with lesions filled with neutrophils, another type of immune cell. Both groups of mice were given antibody drugs similar to drugs being developed against MS in humans. The effects were observed over time and results showed that some of the drugs inhibited disease in the first group of mice but did not inhibit disease in the second group. Thus, as Mark Kroenke (2008), the study’s first author and a Ph.D. student in immunology at U-M stated, "That's our proof that these really are different mechanisms of disease" (Kroenke et al., 2008).

    Read More

  • Childhood Trauma and Symptoms of Psychological Disorders

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    Psychology researchers have conducted many case studies and have spent countless hours reviewing case studies that have already been done to try to find the answer to the question, does childhood trauma cause and effect the symptoms of patients with psychological disorders such as Schizophrenia and Psychosis, or can the trauma cause a patient to have Schizophrenia or Psychosis. Many case studies’ findings state that there is a link. Some studies say only certain symptoms are affected. I want to know what symptoms are affected and what kind of childhood trauma could have possibly affected the symptoms of patients who have been diagnosed with Schizophrenia and Psychosis, or if the childhood trauma could have caused a patient‘s mental illness.

    Read More

  • Multiple Slerrosis Papers

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Multiple sclerosis, also known as MS, is one of the humankind’s most mysterious diseases. Multiple sclerosis has the ability to affect nearly 3 million people worldwide. This disease tends to be more common in individuals of northern European descent and women are more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis as men are. Of those 3 million people, most of them are between the ages of 20 and 50 years old. Even though multiple sclerosis is a mystery disease, scientists are working to determine the exact cause and treatment.

    Read More

  • Multiple Sclerosis Essay

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Multiple Sclerosis is a nervous system disease that affects the spinal cord and the brain by damaging the myelin sheaths that protects nerve cells. Destroyed myelin prevents messages from communicating and sending properly from the brain, through the spinal cord, to internal body parts. In the United States, more than 350,000 people are diagnosed with this disease. Anyone can get this disease, but it is more common among Caucasian women. MS symptoms begin between the ages 20-40 and are caused by nerve lesions being present in multiple areas of the Central Nervous System, symptoms differ on the lesion’s location.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of On Being A Cripple

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    “And I refuse to participate in the degeneration of the language to the extent that I deny that I have lost anything in the course of this calamitous disease; I refuse to pre- tend that the only differences between you and me are the various ordinary ones that distinguish anyone person from another,” (138). Note that she refuses to identify as any other ordinary person. This leads us to believe that even though she may hate her disease, she accepts that it is a big part of her life, and should be treated as so. This in turn connects her with readers who also have been diagnosed with MS disease and furthermore makes them feel like they are not alone in their struggle. Mairs does not try to disguise the fact that she has MS, but instead embraces her differences.

    Read More

  • THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIFE STRESS AND HEALTH INVENTORY SCORES IN A COLLEGIATE POPULATION

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    ABSTRACT Scientific literature is replete with studies examining the relationship between stressful life events and the occurrence of compromised immune function as suggested by the presence of various illnesses. Forty college students answered questionnaires regarding the presence of stressful life events and the presence or absence of recent illnesses. The relationship between these scores was examined. Life stress scores were significantly positively related to scores indicating illnesses on a health inventory. As scores indicating the presence of stressful life experiences increased, scores suggesting the presence of illness also increased.

    Read More

  • The Pathway to Psychosis

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...n Os , J., & Myin-Germeys, I. (2011). Childhood trauma and increased stress. ACTA PSYCHIATRICA, 28–35.

    Read More

  • What I Would Do with a Million Dollars

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    By the time I was in second grade my mother needed a walker. Because I loved my mother who was my best friend, I hated to see what MS did to her. I still do. It eats me up inside when I think about how the disease is getting worse and worse. I sometimes tell myself that this is as bad as it can get; but I have been wrong about that.

    Read More

More about The Impact of Multiple Sclerosis on a Patient's Life

Open Document