Apr
6
Social Impact of Multiple Sclerosis
Filed Under Personal Stories
Social Impact of Multiple Sclerosis - 13WHAM.com
Nancy Koger of Charlotte, N.Y. was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) seven years ago, when she was just 34 years old.
Koger’s symptoms, which included exhaustion and losses of vision & mobility, were so bad, she had to stop working, give up her home, and move into assisted living.
“The only way I can describe it is it feels like something on the inside of you is eating away at you,” Nancy said.
MS also ate away her social life, with her dog Buddy being her only constant company.
Multiple sclerosis causes the immune system to attack the central nervous system. While the physical deterioration is the most visible effect of MS, the disease also can cause mood swings, irritability and pain – symptoms that MS researchers say are often worse than the disease.
Because no two MS patients have the same symptoms or respond the same way to treatments, experts say MS remains among the most complicated and unpredictable diseases to treat.
“The thing to keep in mind with all medications…in multiple sclerosis, is that they are focused on treating damage and preventing new problems,” said Dr. Steven Schwid, Associate Professor of Neurology at UR Medical Center. “But they don’t really treat the symptoms people already have, so we need different types of approaches…”
Nancy does take medication for her symptoms, but she says there’s no pill to change people’s attitudes towards MS.
“That’s probably been the hardest for me,” she said. “If I mention I’d like to do something, go away, take a trip…everybody’s, ‘You can’t do that!’ And it gets depressing knowing…yeah, there are a lot of things I can’t do.”
Nancy hopes eventually more people will realize what she can do, instead of focusing on what she can’t do.
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