Multiple Sclerosis Health Center

News and Features Related to Multiple Sclerosis

Genetic Clue May Predict Multiple Sclerosis Severity

Oct. 19, 2009 -- A newly identified biomarker may be linked to the severity of multiple sclerosis and may one day help with diagnosis and treatment of the often frustrating and unpredictable disease. Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the brain and spinal cord that affects more than 400,000 American
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FDA Panel: New MS Drug Helps Walking

Oct. 16, 2009 - A new drug for multiple sclerosis truly helps some patients walk better, says an FDA advisory panel. The finding, by a panel of outside experts, makes it more likely that full FDA approval will come soon. If approved, the drug -- tentatively named Ampriva -- would be the first to imp
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Multiple Sclerosis: Questions to Ask Your Doctor

10 Important Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Multiple Sclerosis Have you been able to rule out every other possible cause of my symptoms? What form of multiple sclerosis do you think I have? What drug(s) should I take to treat my MS? How will I know if the drugs are working? What side effects sho
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Multiple Sclerosis: The Importance of Early Treatment

It took three years for Michele Maglione to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Her first attack came in 1988, when she experienced a frightening bout of numbness from the waist down. She assumed she had a slipped disk or pinched nerve from a recent move. Her doctor sent her to a neurologist,
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When MS Attacks

Call it a flare-up, call it an exacerbation -- whatever you call it, you can't call it fun. Exacerbations of multiple sclerosis are the periodic, sudden worsening of symptoms that so many people with relapsing-remitting MS experience on a regular basis. You're walking along fine when you notice numb
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Blood Pressure Drug May Help Treat MS

Aug. 17, 2009 -- A drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure may also double as a multiple sclerosis treatment. A new study shows the inexpensive blood pressure drug lisinopril blocked development of multiple sclerosis in laboratory mice bred to develop the disease. And when the drug was given
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Epstein-Barr Virus Linked to MS

May 4, 2009 (Seattle) -- Infection with Epstein-Barr virus appears to raise the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), Boston researchers report. The findings offer the strongest evidence to date implicating the virus as a trigger for the chronic progressive autoimmune disorder of the brain and
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2 New Drugs May Fight Multiple Sclerosis

April 30, 2009 (Seattle) -- Two new oral drugs cut by about half the relapse rate in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). If approved by the FDA, the drugs -- cladribine and fingolimod -- would become the first treatments for MS that don't involve regular injections or infusions. In one study, about
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High Doses of Vitamin D Cut MS Relapses

April 28, 2009 (Seattle) -- High doses of vitamin D dramatically cut the relapse rate in people with multiple sclerosis, a study shows. Sixteen percent of 25 people with multiple sclerosis (MS) given an average of 14,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D a day for a year suffered relapses, says
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Experimental MS Drug May Aid Walking

Feb. 26, 2009 -- An experimental drug called fampridine may improve walking in some people with multiple sclerosis. Researchers report that news in the Feb. 28 edition of The Lancet. They studied 301 U.S. and Canadian adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). At the study's start, the patients were timed
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