UPDATED: Redefining A “Cure” For Multiple Sclerosis

UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: JUNE 19, 2018

The following is an opinion piece written by MStranslate co-founder, Brett Drummond.  As always, we value your thoughts, feedback and contributions.  Please share them with us by commenting on this article either here, on our Facebook page, or by emailing Brett directly here.

THE ‘C’ WORD

A cure for multiple sclerosis.  Five words that would mean so much.  

Even just writing it now starts to make me emotional.  

It is the article that I desperately want to write.  It is the article that I’m sure everyone desperately wants to read.  

A cure for multiple sclerosis.  Five words that can be used so thoughtlessly.  Reading media articles that contain this phrase often makes me emotional, though generally not in a positive way.  

The reality is that a cure, as we understand the word, isn’t necessarily close.  We have more pieces of the puzzle than ever before, but we still don’t know the exact cause and many other questions remain unanswered.  All of these things still stand in the way of finding a cure.  

Considering this and the fact that so many people are desperately waiting to hear those five words, we need to be so careful about if and when we use them.

RE-DEFINING THE “CURE” OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Now, I know that all of that sounds a little negative and like hope doesn’t exist.  Well the rest of the article is going to talk about something much more positive.  While a cure may not be a reality in the short-term (and things can change quickly, so I hope I’m wrong about that!), maybe we can have a slightly different outcome…what I’ll refer to as a “cure”.

The “cure” is what we see here at the middle of the diagram and it relies on all of the three components that make it up.  Let’s briefly discuss each one.

1)  STOP THE ATTACK

Parts of the immune system are causing the damage to the myelin that we see in multiple sclerosis.  All of the existing treatment options work on stopping that from happening.  Many options exist now that can be highly effective in stopping or slowing new damage from occurring (at least in people with the relapsing-remitting form of MS).

2)  REPAIR THE DAMAGE

This is the next phase and where a large research and trial focus is being placed.  As discussed in part 1, we have found ways of stopping the damage, but none of these treatments work to repair the damage that already exists.  In terms of trying to reverse symptoms and improve the quality of lives of people with multiple sclerosis, this repair or ‘remyelination’ is critical.  It is difficult to put timelines on these processes, but with all of the effort and progress so far, it is possible that we might see the first of these treatments within the next decade.

3)  IMPROVE THE ENVIRONMENT

Diet, exercise and lifestyle modifications…all of these day-to-day changes are being shown to have beneficial effects for people with MS.  While our understanding of how they are doing this is still developing, there is no doubt that, in many cases, they will certainly help parts 1 and 2 work more effectively.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

How far away we are from a cure in the way that we normally talk about it is hard to predict, especially with so many questions to answer.  

But are we on the verge of a ‘cure’ in the sense of being able to really effectively manage and maybe even start to reverse the course of multiple sclerosis? 

 If we can bring all three of these elements together, are we going to be able to implement a comprehensive way of dealing with all aspects of the disease?

I don’t have the answer, but with everything that we currently know, I think it is a far more realistic and responsible discussion to be having at this stage.  That’s just my opinion and, as always, I’d love to know what you think.