The women who already have at least one child have a thirty-four percent less of the possibility of having a progressive state of multiple sclerosis. According to studies, those women who do not have children yet are more likely to reach a stage of MS where they would need assistance in walking with a brace or a cane.
Having a child before or after the symptoms of multiple sclerosis started to appear is of great help. On the other hand, those women who had children even after the onset of their disease’s symptoms were much better off. Either way, it seems that pregnancy helps in cases of multiple sclerosis.
What the experts say
In fact, according to an expert from the Department of Neurology at the National MS Centrum which is located in Mesbroek, Belgium, named Marie D’hooghe, women who have multiple sclerosis and children tend to have a benign type of MS. This finding is in comparison to those women who have not yet given birth.
Research on multiple sclerosis indicates that eighty-five percent of those who unluckily develop MS initially have a relapsing – remitting type. This means that attacks associated with this particular disease are usually followed by either total or partial recovery. More than fifty percent actually have a progressive state of the disease.
When this happens, the symptoms become much worse and more difficult to handle, and the rest periods where the symptoms disappear for a while become shorter. After some time, the MS process will lead to having a loss of vision, or worse, paralysis.
Women are more at risk than men.
Research has it that females are more predisposed to having multiple sclerosis. However, such cases are less severe as compared to the severity of the disease in males.
In the study conduced by the researchers mentioned, three-quarters of the female respondents have already had children. What the researchers did was they monitored the duration needed before the women reached sixth level based on the EDSS or the Expanded Disability Status Scale.
The Expanded Disability Status Scale
The EDSS is a system for rating that is used as a tool by many physicians for determining the severity of the symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis. For instance, first level means the severity is least severe, level ten means death is near. On the sixth level, it means that he or she needs to make use of an assistive device for mobility.
Research findings
For those who have no experience of giving birth usually had an average of thirteen up to fifteen years before finally progressing to the sixth level on the EDSS. On the other hand, those who already have children took some twenty-two up to twenty-three years before reaching that stage.
Moreover, the Director of the biomedical research from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Patricia O’Looney, say that there are indeed benefits for female patients who have already had children. Still, however, there is not enough data derived from their demographics to totally come up with some conclusions.
What is it?
It has been scientifically determined that multiple sclerosis can potentially debilitate a person. This means that the body’s own immune system attacks the sheath that protects the nerves. Once this sheath is damaged or totally destroyed, the normal communication between the person’s brain and the rest of the body is interfered. This condition results into the deteriorating of the nerves, a complication that can never be reversed.
Its symptoms
The symptoms of multiple sclerosis may vary depending on how much damage has occurred to the nerves that are affected. Those who have the severe type of multiple sclerosis can end up being bedridden since their ability to walk or to talk is destroyed.
What is very bothersome about these symptoms is that they tend to come and go. This means that they could suddenly arrive and then suddenly disappear for a few months. This is why doctors find it initially difficult to diagnose multiple sclerosis during its early stages.
Multiple sclerosis symptoms are also usually manifested by people between the ages of twenty and forty. Although multiple sclerosis can happen to anyone from any age, this is the common age range that is affected. Also, according to statistical research, the women are the ones who usually carry this debilitating disorder.
There is numbness or fatigue in one limb or both. This kind of weakness usually occurs on just one side of the body at a single time. However, there have been reports that it could happen to the entire bottom part of the body. This condition is often accompanied with a tingling sensation that is sometimes painful in some parts of the body.
There is also a partial or a complete visual loss which starts at one time then ends with having pain whenever both eyes move. This condition is given the medical term of optic neuritis. Apart from loss of vision, double vision or blurring of vision can also occur.
There could also be sensations like electrical shock that occur whenever the head is moved. Tremors also happen with the accompaniment of absence of coordination and imbalanced gait.
Many who have multiple sclerosis might experience relapses of the symptoms, especially during the early stages of the disorder. This relapsing phase is often followed by partial or complete remission.
Its causes
As minimally mentioned, multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. This means that the body’s immune system attacks its own cells and tissues. The myelin, which is a protective wall that insulates the nerve fibers within, is damaged in multiple sclerosis. Once it is damaged, foreign substances that are potentially harmful can then freely destroy the open and unprotected nerve fibers.
Multiple sclerosis can happen to anyone from any age. However, it has been discovered that it usually occurs to people who are between twenty and forty years of age. As mentioned, women are also the ones who usually carry such disease. In fact, women are twice more likely to have multiple sclerosis than men.
As any other condition, heredity plays an important role. The risk of developing multiple sclerosis is greater for those who have a family history of the disease than for those who do not. If one of the parents has the disease, then there is a one to three percent possibility that multiple sclerosis may develop.
When it comes to identical twins, things are much more complicated and difficult to ascertain. Identical twins would mean having identical risks, according to some medical scientists. However, this is not the case because a twin who has multiple sclerosis only gives his or her identical twin a thirty percent possibility of having the very same disorder.
This website uses cookies that are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the privacy policy. By accepting this OR scrolling this page OR continuing to browse, you agree to our Privacy Policy