Having access to reliable MS facts is critical to finding useful help and resources for MS patients. How can you tell when you are being given multiple sclerosis facts and when somebody is just capitalizing on your ignorance and fears to make a quick buck? Well, first of all you should look at the quality of information that is being offered by the source. Is it simply an opinion or is there evidence to support it? And what sort of evidence are you being presented with? If it is scientific evidence, and if it comes from studies that have been published in peer-review journals, then you are on the right track. Other valuable sources of information that aren’t necessarily scientific are the blog entries or discussion forum contributions of other MS patients.
Not only do MS patients and those suffering from other diseases have firsthand experience of their respective diseases, but they also have encyclopedic knowledge of these diseases. Out of concern for their health and well-being, they make an effort to learn everything they can about their diseases. They quickly become savvy about what constitutes good scientific research pertaining to their diseases. By necessity, they learn to read graphs and to interpret the data presented in write-ups of medical studies. Because they are seeking real answers to their questions about their illnesses, they are not satisfied with emotional paragraphs. They want to see the multiple sclerosis facts and statistics that form the basis for various conclusions.
Interesting Facts about Multiple Sclerosis
Some of the interesting facts on multiple sclerosis that curious people with access to a computer can find out follow: First of all, MS has been on the minds of medical scientists for more than 100 years. In 1873, an English doctor by the name of William Moxon recognized it as a disease. So did the American doctor, Edward Seguin, 5 years later. Today, some 130 to 140 years later, we know that MS strikes 2 to 3 times as many women as men. We also know that genetics plays an indirect role in determining patients’ susceptibility to MS.
Medical science has been able to unearth additional MS facts. These include the fact that multiple sclerosis can strike anybody, but there do tend to be epidemiological patterns. For instance, most MS patients are between the ages of 20 years and 50 years. Smaller percentages of MS patients are children, teenagers or middle-aged adults. Additionally, MS is most prevalent in regions with temperate climates. This has to do with the fact that people in these regions have little exposure to sunlight during the winter months. Thus, they are likely to be vitamin D deficient. It has been shown that vitamin D deficiency is one of the environmental triggers of MS.
