Multiple sclerosis is conventionally described as an autoimmune disease that predominantly strikes prime age adults. The age of onset of multiple sclerosis typically lies between the ages of 20 years and 50 years. However, children and teenagers have been known to be stricken with the condition. Additionally, people have been known to develop the disease when above 50 years in age. Various symptoms are commonly associated with the onset of multiple sclerosis. They include double vision or blurred vision, fatigue, tingling or numbness in the extremities, Lhermitte’s sign, bladder issues, heat intolerance and cognitive and affective changes.
Looking into the Multiple Sclerosis Age of Onset
The age of onset of multiple sclerosis is of particular importance. This is because the age of a patient’s multiple sclerosis onset affects the extent to which he or she will recover from flare ups. The younger they are when they first develop multiple sclerosis the better patients recover from the demyelination of their neurons. This is because the mechanisms by which their damaged neurons are repaired work particularly efficiently in their youth. The older they become, the less efficiently these mechanisms work. The net result of this is that people who develop multiple sclerosis in their childhood or teens tend to take longer to progress to disability than people who develop multiple sclerosis in their adulthood.
Another difference between those who experience the onset of multiple sclerosis as children and those who experience it as adults is in the number of relapses they experience: children typically experience more relapses than adults do. It must, however, be said that these observations about one’s age at the onset of multiple sclerosis and the progression of the disease are not set in stone. They are drawn from studies that have been conducted over the years. Additional studies have been done which make different suggestions. There are, for instance, studies that suggest that the age of onset of multiple sclerosis has little to do with the progression of the disease. Rather, it is the patient’s age at any particular moment that determines how his or her disease will present at that moment.
There are other ways in which age can impact a multiple sclerosis patient. Simply put, there are various age-specific concerns experienced by any human being. Teenagers, for instance, have anxieties and pressures specific to their life stage. If they also have MS, then those pressures and anxieties can only add to the difficulty of their experience. The same is true for adults who may be parents with financial and other responsibilities. Worries about health insurance and their capacity to keep their respective jobs and look after their children would, understandably, contribute to high stress levels. This stress would exacerbate their MS symptoms.
