I’m a very big fan of Flipboard . I use it a lot,  I post my blog, I read articles and I find recipes. I save all my recipes in a magazine, you could click on my recipe magazine right down the side of this blog. Yesterday I came across a great article about The Story of Multiple Sclerosis and It’s Major Milestones http://flip.it/udMksk. I just want to highlight the milestones.

• 1824 1st clinical description of multiple sclerosis
• 1868 Multiple sclerosis named
• 1878 MS recognized as a distinct disease in the U.S.
• 1921 Association for Research in Nervous and Mental a Disease (ARNMD) formed
• 1935 MS animal model discovered
• 1946 National MS Society founded
• 1950 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
• 1969 1st MS study done on people
• 1969 Steroids used to treat MS
• 1982 MRI used to visualize brain
• 1993 1st drug treatment approved by the FDA

That first drug approved was Betaseron followed closely by Avonex. I started my first treatment course with Avonex but switched quickly to Betaseron. I was on that drug roughly 12 years. Throughout the years,  I periodically tried other drugs on the market until 2010 when I switch to the Oral pill Gilenya.

My first MS attack was severe. I had lost my entire left side of my body. When I say lost I mean, my body was limp on one side. I had no feeling from my feet to my face. I had no muscle control in my legs, arms, hands, and half my mid section. The left side of my face to this day still has abnormal feeling that started from that attack. I didn’t have face drooping and I’m thankful for that. I remember in physical therapy they’d have to tie my foot on to the bike pedal, otherwise it would just fall off.  I had some control in the quadricep,I guess, to make the pedal rotation. I know when I started walking at first my left arm just hung there, wouldn’t swing with my body in the natural way. I remember making a cup of coffee the day of my diagnosis, and hearing a crash. Looking behind me to see what fell and realizing the coffee mug I was holding was on the floor. Hot coffee was all over my legs and I didn’t feel it.  My hand was still in a somewhat gripped position didn’t even realize I wasn’t holding the mug anymore.

It’s crazy when I think back to that attack 19 years ago. Look where MS is now. There are like 15 release-remitting drugs but none for progressive. Unfortunately that’s where I am. In another article on Flipboard, http://flip.it/sZMDhL  This article talks about the progression.

Roughly 80-85% of people with multiple sclerosis are first diagnosed with relapse-remitting MS, which includes periods of remission between flare-ups.

Most MS patients eventually develop the progressive form of the disease. For these people , their symptoms do not come and go. Instead, they gradually and steadily worsen. There are some drugs that can help control relapse-remitting MS, but there are no treatments for progressive MS.

Unfortuntely, MS has come far and has made so much progress but no cure is out there yet. Also for those in that progressive stage, there is no treatment yet. I remain hopeful to new research and development. Stem cell therapy http://flip.it/k1PR-k and myelin regeneration http://weill.cornell.edu/mscenter/research/translational_research.html. I just hope when things get approved by our FDA I’m haven’t progressed to far to be helped.