How Pre-Existing Drugs May Help Fight Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is the most common neurological disorder among young people in the United States. Despite its prevalence, there’s still no cure for the disease, although that certainly isn’t for lack of trying. Many individuals who deal with multiple sclerosis suffer from a wide variety of symptoms that may be dormant and relatively not existent at times, or severe and even debilitating at other times. Although medical professionals and researchers continue to look for therapies and medications that could treat the disease effectively, there’s still plenty to be learned about the disease. Thankfully, a community of researchers is looking at the possibility of adapting pre-existing drugs as means of treating MS.

Difference in relapsing vs. progressive

When it comes to developing treatment options for multiple sclerosis, one of the key roadblocks that medical researchers have faced is the different types of the disease that patients may have. Many patients suffer from what is called relapsing multiple sclerosis. In this manifestation of the disease, a patient may have symptoms such as pain or difficulty with walking or speech, but typically only for a limited period of time. This could be a long period of time, such as a few weeks or months, but then the symptoms will subside for a period. Although there isn’t a cure for this type of the disease, there are more therapies and medications available to patients to help manage their symptoms effectively.

Conversely, some patients suffer from what is called progressive multiple sclerosis. Unlike relapsing MS, progressive MS continues to get steadily worse over time. When a patient begins experiencing symptoms such as difficulty walking or speaking due to nerve damage, their symptoms won’t relent, but continue to worsen gradually to the point that patients often become unable to walk and sometimes speak on their own.

Obviously, both forms of multiple sclerosis present a host of challenges and require patients to make myriad lifestyle changes to cope with the effects of the disease, but dealing with progressive MS can often be more difficult than relapsing. One reason that progressive MS is more difficult than relapsing is for the simple fact that patients don’t ever experience periods of respite. In relapsing MS, while the symptoms may occur without warning, once managed patients can often resume their regular lifestyle. Patients with progressive MS, however, must live with their symptoms on a daily basis and don’t experience the same periods of relief.

Figuring out how to address progressive MS

At this point, the medical community has been able to develop more treatment options for dealing with relapsing MS. From diet and lifestyle plans that can help mitigate symptoms to a wider host of available drug treatments for managing symptoms, patients with relapsing MS have more options. One of the reasons that doctors have been able to develop more treatment options for relapsing MS over progressive MS is that the disease affects the body differently in both cases.
Essentially, multiple sclerosis attacks the covering of the nervous system which then results in the wide host of possible symptoms patients experience. While the disease involves degeneration of the nervous system in both cases, the way that it attacks and deteriorates the nervous system is different in relapsing and progressive MS. In progressive MS, the disease also affects a patient’s iron levels and immune system.

Because the disease affects patients in different ways, doctors have had to look for alternative treatment methods that will address each iteration of the disease specifically in order to yield positive results.

Read on to learn more about testing certain drugs for effectiveness in MS.