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Ian's avatar

“illustrates to me why we need to celebrate the progress we have made in the field of MS over the last 70 years. Do you agree?” Are there drugs to stop the underlying neurodegeneration / progression? Are there drugs which stimulate repair of a brain / spinal cord damaged by MS? I’d be surprised if anyone diagnosed with PPMS today would share your view on the progress made. My 57 year old friend (diagnosed 2005) operates her electric wheelchair with one finger and relies on multiple carers (her husband walked out ten years ago). She’s got nothing to celebrate. My GP visits a local care home where there are two women with MS who are in their mid to late 30s. No careers, no family life, no future…. even my GP gets choked up when she mentions them. They won’t be the only cases in the country. Piggy backing on the Jubilee is an odd way of trying to show the progress made in the field of MS. Progress in the MS field has been slow and patchy, with the main work (stopping progression, encouraging repair) still to do - no reason to wave the flags or let off any fireworks. In 1952 no one knew the trigger cause / trigger of MS. In 2022 (70 years later) a paper pointed the finger at ebv. Although even you admit that you don’t know how ebv is involved (another recent paper came up with 10+ possible ways ebv may trigger / drive MS). More research required! Maybe in ten years time (BTK inhibitors, anti-virals targeting ebv, remyelination therapies) the world of neurology can reassess the progress made in treating MS. Compared to the progress made in other fields eg cancer, neurology is at the back of the queue. Don’t get me started on MND ((family friend) or Huntington’s (colleague’s wife).

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SOMEONE's avatar

I do wonder if that would have super charged the search for better drugs...

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