3 ms·

Ummm... how is this news? Just ask anyone with multiple sclerosis.

Mezzie 3y ago
Yeah, that was my first thought as an MS patient. Personal evidence aside, MSers depression and anxiety rates suggests some kind of relationship - as a population I believe we have some of the worst depression rates even controlling for the severity of the disease. We beat out cancer patients, for example.
- johnisgood 3y ago
  It pisses me off that psychiatrists and neurologists have no clue about the fact that the disease itself (MS) may cause such symptoms in itself, plus, the fact that your quality of life is worse due to the illness. > It’s a disease that affects all the brain, including white and gray matters. The neurological lesions begin in early stages and affect all aspects of CNS functioning. MS symptoms include muscle weakness, visual acuity loss, sphincter incontinence, fatigue, anxiety, depression and cognitive deficits.[1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/ I just had a conversation with my psychiatrist and because the medications do not work for me, she thinks it is not organic. This one last time she also prescribed one of the worst antidepressants (it causes liver damage more so than the others, and taking any medications (such as the medication I take for MS) that harm the liver are a contraindication). I am not sure why it is not acknowledged, but the disease causes not only physical and neurological problems, but neuropsychiatric as well! I hope you have a different experience with doctors from around there.
DANmode 3y ago
Have you ever asked people without MS to describe it? If you don't know someone who has it, and weren't lucky enough to learn about it in school, chances are you don't really know what it is, or how it can present in a patient. Neuro is poorly understood in general by a large portion of the population.
- aksss 3y ago
  IME, most times when you mention "autoimmune disease", people think AIDS. Explaining that your autoimmune disease is kind of the opposite of AIDS, that it's not contagious, are annoyingly common experiences. And it still amazes me - personally I knew about autoimmune diseases before I ever had one. Probably because of Seal, frankly. The reality is that a large portion of any population doesn't care to learn about anything outside of their immediate lived experience. Easy to forget this when hanging out on HN and having a nerdy and wonky social circle.
johnisgood 3y ago
It is not news to us, but my neurologist (specialized in MS) and psychiatrist have no clue about the fact that the disease itself can indeed cause depression and anxiety (or any other neuropsychiatric symptoms[1]), and this is not even mentioning the perception of the disease itself along with its symptoms such as difficulty walking and the like. According to my personal experiences, these doctors are clueless. I have been told that the tremor in my leg will never be cured, yet it disappears after taking Kratom. It is also much less frequent now after I have done some exercises for some time now, along with a massage that I receive once a week. By the way, I do not wish to talk about this touchy subject, but I know someone who works at a social home and around 80% of the patients have gotten worse after having received the 4th booster. That, and in general, after COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines there have been many more people who have been diagnosed with MS, most likely from either COVID-19 or the vaccine. It is known that those vaccinations may cause autoimmune diseases (check PubMed). Personally I have received the diagnosis long before COVID-19. At any rate, this is why I was reluctant to get the vaccine. As far as I know, I never had COVID-19. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/

Yeah, that was my first thought as an MS patient. Personal evidence aside, MSers depression and anxiety rates suggests some kind of relationship - as a population I believe we have some of the worst depression rates even controlling for the severity of the disease. We beat out cancer patients, for example.

johnisgood 3y ago
It pisses me off that psychiatrists and neurologists have no clue about the fact that the disease itself (MS) may cause such symptoms in itself, plus, the fact that your quality of life is worse due to the illness. > It’s a disease that affects all the brain, including white and gray matters. The neurological lesions begin in early stages and affect all aspects of CNS functioning. MS symptoms include muscle weakness, visual acuity loss, sphincter incontinence, fatigue, anxiety, depression and cognitive deficits.[1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/ I just had a conversation with my psychiatrist and because the medications do not work for me, she thinks it is not organic. This one last time she also prescribed one of the worst antidepressants (it causes liver damage more so than the others, and taking any medications (such as the medication I take for MS) that harm the liver are a contraindication). I am not sure why it is not acknowledged, but the disease causes not only physical and neurological problems, but neuropsychiatric as well! I hope you have a different experience with doctors from around there.

DANmode 3y ago

Have you ever asked people without MS to describe it? If you don't know someone who has it, and weren't lucky enough to learn about it in school, chances are you don't really know what it is, or how it can present in a patient. Neuro is poorly understood in general by a large portion of the population.

aksss 3y ago
IME, most times when you mention "autoimmune disease", people think AIDS. Explaining that your autoimmune disease is kind of the opposite of AIDS, that it's not contagious, are annoyingly common experiences. And it still amazes me - personally I knew about autoimmune diseases before I ever had one. Probably because of Seal, frankly. The reality is that a large portion of any population doesn't care to learn about anything outside of their immediate lived experience. Easy to forget this when hanging out on HN and having a nerdy and wonky social circle.

johnisgood 3y ago

It is not news to us, but my neurologist (specialized in MS) and psychiatrist have no clue about the fact that the disease itself can indeed cause depression and anxiety (or any other neuropsychiatric symptoms[1]), and this is not even mentioning the perception of the disease itself along with its symptoms such as difficulty walking and the like. According to my personal experiences, these doctors are clueless. I have been told that the tremor in my leg will never be cured, yet it disappears after taking Kratom. It is also much less frequent now after I have done some exercises for some time now, along with a massage that I receive once a week. By the way, I do not wish to talk about this touchy subject, but I know someone who works at a social home and around 80% of the patients have gotten worse after having received the 4th booster. That, and in general, after COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines there have been many more people who have been diagnosed with MS, most likely from either COVID-19 or the vaccine. It is known that those vaccinations may cause autoimmune diseases (check PubMed). Personally I have received the diagnosis long before COVID-19. At any rate, this is why I was reluctant to get the vaccine. As far as I know, I never had COVID-19. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6933139/