I didn't know a lot about MS before I was diagnosed so when I heard the verdict, I thought my future might be null and void. I quickly found out that the majority of people with MS will live full and nearly normal lives with the reaper no closer than expected.Most MSers will move on from this life due to the normal culprits: strokes, heart attacks, accidents, infections... you see where I'm going with this I trust.
Strangely enough, people with MS have a significantly lower incidence of cancer than the general population, especially women. People taking beta-interferon (Avonex, Rebif & CinnoVex) medications are the exception to this rule and actually experience higher levels of all cancers for an unknown reason. Copaxone is not an interferon by the way...
It is very rare to have a death directly attributed to an MS lesion; that is disease activity that creates a brain or spinal cord lesion that stops vital life function. The ways that MS can indirectly cause death include accidents from loss of motor function, choking due to swallowing difficulties and sadly, a hugely increased suicide rate.
The general consensus in the MS medical community is that the typical patient will live an average of 35 years following their diagnosis. This puts me at 69 years of age before I croak out; that's good for me, I'll take it.
Does anyone know at what address I can send my R.S.V.P. to the Grim Reaper?
No comments:
Post a Comment