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Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system (CNS), the cause is still unknown. It affects more than 85,000 people in the UK alone, and is the most common disease of the CNS in young adults. Each week around 50 people will be newly diagnosed, it is generally first diagnosed when the person is in their 20’s or 30’s, but an increasing number of teenagers are now being diagnosed with MS. More women than men are affected (a ratio of around 2:1).

The CNS consists of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. The nerve fibres of the CNS are surrounded by a fatty tissue called Myelin, which protects the nerve fibres and enables them to conduct electrical impulses around the body. Nobody knows the cause, but in MS the myelin is lost in several areas and leaves scar tissue called sclerosis, sometimes the nerve fibres themselves may be damaged or broken.

When this myelin loss or nerve fibre damage occurs, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, they become garbled or lost and it this which leads to the various symptoms of MS.

MS sufferers and their families are affected in many different ways by the disease. As the symptoms and level of disability of the sufferer increase it affects their working, family and social lives.