Multiple sclerosis

• Fact: There is no definitive test for multiple sclerosis, and it often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years.
• Proportion of risk that’s in your genes: 48 percent.
• What you can do: Multiple sclerosis can be sneaky, not having a signature symptom or sign of onset. Taking a gene test and being aware of the possibility of the disease can sensitize you and your physician to thinking of it if an unusual neurological symptom does arise.
• Did you know? The severity of the disease can vary widely. Some people have only mild symptoms that do not need treatment, while others can become disabled.

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a chronic and progressive neurological disease that affects your brain and spinal cord. Researchers believe that in people who have multiple sclerosis, the body’s immune system goes awry, attacking components of the body as if they’re foreign. This results in inflammation and injury to the insulation around the brain and spinal cord, ultimately damaging the nerves themselves. The end result is usually a decline in muscle coordination, strength, sensation and vision.

MS affects an estimated 300,000 people in the United States and probably more than 1 million people worldwide. Women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed, and symptoms tend to appear early, between the ages of 20 and 40.

Genetic factors may make some people more susceptible to MS, but environmental factors such as viruses and bacteria also seem to be involved. Researchers suspect that the tendency to develop multiple sclerosis is inherited, but that the disease appears only when environmental triggers are present. Our genetic test will help you determine whether you have a genetic predisposition to multiple sclerosis.

Knowing you have a genetic risk of multiple sclerosis can make you alert to symptoms if you do develop them. Symptoms of multiple sclerosis include eye pain, double vision, blurred vision, muscle weakness, loss of balance and persistent numbness or tingling in the arms or legs.

Should you ever develop such unusual symptoms, it is important to be evaluated as early as possible by a neurologist. There is no cure for the disease, but multiple sclerosis treatments can make the symptoms less severe.