Multiple sclerosis complications have a tremendous impact on patients’ lives. A lot of the time, the difficulties experienced by these patients result from MS complications; they aren’t necessarily a direct result of the nervous tissue demyelination and inflammation that characterize MS.
MS is often described as a debilitating disease, with much emphasis placed on the progression toward disability experienced by a number of patients as their MS lesions spread. Fortunately, the medication currently used in the treatment of MS helps to slow down its progression in those patients who succeed in following the prescribed courses of treatment.
The onset of MS is not always immediately apparent when it happens. It often takes a while for a patient to develop symptoms and to seek medical attention for them, and for the doctors consulted to put two and two together and finally diagnose the patient with multiple sclerosis. So it can take a significant amount of time from the onset of MS until the patient starts to take the appropriate medication. In the best case scenario, patients are able to start taking medication soon after the onset of the condition. This helps to keep many of the symptoms of MS under control and, consequently, helps to circumvent some multiple sclerosis complications.
It is important to understand that, as debilitating as MS can be, it is rare to hear that that patients have died of it. Among this small number of patients who have died, complications of multiple sclerosis are likely to have been implicated. One of the important questions that one must subsequently ask is “What are some of these MS complications that have the capacity to result in patients’ deaths?”
Some Life-threatening Complications of Multiple Sclerosis
Complications from multiple sclerosis can take a wide variety of forms. For instance, patients who experience multiple sclerosis-induced incontinence often develop urinary tract infections as a complication. When left untreated, these infections can spread beyond the bladder and cause damage to the kidneys. They could actually result in kidney failure and death.
Other complications associated with MS include the adverse side effects of various MS medications. If a patient eventually develops one of these adverse side effects and it kills him or her, then the patient can be said to have suffered a fatal complication of MS. Some of these medications tend to provoke complications after long term use. Other medications may provoke instant allergic responses in patients, possibly killing a few who go into anaphylactic shock. These are all fatal complications of MS.
