Complex disease needs strong support system

Press, 16 August 1989, Page 29

Complex disease needs strong support system

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canterbury has around 250 members who suffer from MS and a further 200 who suffer from Parkinsons Disease and belong to the society’s Parkinsons Support Group.

MS and Parkinsons are not related conditions, except that they are both neurological conditions, but several years ago society director Barry Hawkins says he realised that not enough was being done for Parkinsons sufferers and his society was probably the best placed to do something. Multiple Sclerosis is not necessarily a progressive disorder, with many people only suffering the one attack, whereas Parkinsons is a degenerative disease. MS tends to strike people between the ages of 20-40, with women around the age of 35 particularly. Parkinsons is a disease of later life, striking those over the age of 50 and men and women equally. Multiple Sclerosis strikes around 1 in 42,000.

The cause is still unknown and there is so far no cure, although extensive research is being carried out around the world.

Mr Hawkins describes it as a “complex disease with complex consequences.” “There are more myths surrounding MS than any disease I know,” he said.

It is a disease of the central nervous system, that is the spinal cord and brain, damaging the myelin sheath on the nerves in these areas.

“That impedes the flow of the electrical impulses or messages which pass to and from the brain — if you like the communication system breaks down,” Mr Hawkins said.

“It is not present anywhere else in the body except the brain and spinal cord. Although the symptoms are manifest in other parts of the body the disease is not. It is the processing of the messages that is the cause,” he said.

Classic symptoms of MS are difficulty in walking, disturbed vision and bladder dysfunction, as well as fatigue, and short term memory loss.

"The disease is not necessarily progressive. People can have an attack which will leave them with a degree of disability for the rest of their lives, and some have almost no symptoms.

“However, more common is a series of attacks and remissions over a number of years or months, characterised by new symptoms not a worsening in the existing ones,” he said. Other symptoms are sensory disturbances like pain where there is no explanation for it and at the same time numbness in another part of the body. This makes things difficult because, for example, a person who cannot feel their feet cannot drive a conventional car because they cannot feel the pedals, he said.

These symptoms can also make sexual relations difficult and enormous stresses are placed on the families of sufferers in many ways. A significant number break up, Mr Hawkins said.

There are medications which can alleviate the symptoms of the disease, such as spasticity and bladder dysfunction, but there is as yet no treatments which alter the progress of the disease, he said-.