Update Your Outlook on Progressive MS

Introduction

The words progressive MS can set off alarm bells. No one wants to hear that his or her MS is, or has become, progressive.  

The term progressive MS applies to different aspects of the disease, and it helps to know how it is being used.  

What Does Progressive MS Mean?

Approximately 85% of people are initially diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). At some point in their disease course, typically after 10-15 years, relapses become less frequent or stop occurring entirely.  

If at this point, the disease progresses more consistently but not necessarily more rapidly, changes in function may become more pronounced. When that happens, the person is said to have transitioned to secondary progressive MS (SPMS).  

Approximately 15% of people with MS are initially diagnosed with primary progressive MS (PPMS). This group tends to experience gradual changes in symptoms and function over time with very few or no defined relapses.  

If you find out that you have progressive MS, be sure to find out from your doctor what exactly that means in your MS journey. That way you can begin to think about how to plan for any changes that may occur. 

Thinking About the Future

When symptoms worsen and abilities are affected, it can feel frustrating and frightening, particularly when a person feels he or she has been doing everything possible to manage the disease.  

Just when one seems to have a handle on MS and its symptoms, changes can occur, making the playing field feel totally different.  

Some people express fear of the future, seeing only a downhill slope. Others are disheartened and may lose motivation to try new ways to solve problems. This is a time when anger, grief, and anxiety may feel more intense.  

We urge all of you – individuals with MS, support partners, and other family members – to step back and rethink the future.  

There are exciting research developments in the area of progressive MS, and there are many things you can do to optimize your health and well-being with progressive disease. 

Managing Your Progressive MS – Using a Team Approach

Disease Modifying Therapies for Porgressive MS

Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are an important component of care for people with progressive MS.  

Most of the available DMTs are approved for relapsing forms of MS, which include those individuals with secondary progressive MS who continue to have occasional relapses. In addition, mitoxantrone is approved for secondary progressive MS and ocrelizumab is approved for primary progressive MS. If you have been diagnosed with a progressive form of MS, be sure to discuss these treatment options with your healthcare provider. 

Comprehensive MS Care for Progressive MS

Comprehensive MS Care for a person with progressive disease also involves ongoing symptom management; rehabilitation to enhance function, comfort, and safety; adaptive equipment to optimize mobility, independence, and participation; and careful attention to optimizing mood and cognition. 

Your best strategy is to assemble a team of professionals you trust and with whom you can communicate comfortably whenever there are changes in function and/or new symptoms. Your neurologist, nurse, physical or occupational therapist, and mental health professional can help you evaluate those changes and identify treatments, tools, and resources to improve the situation. MS is a journey you do not need to travel alone. 

Enhancing Your Health and Wellness

You are more than your MS – and your health and wellbeing are about more than treating your MS. 

A healthy diet, regular exercise geared to your abilities and limitations, effective coping and stress management strategies, and care attention to your mood are all essential to your overall quality of life. 

If you smoke, you have one more reason to quit: the research clearly shows that people who smoke have an increased risk of disease activity and progression. 

There is now ample evidence that people with MS are more likely than the general population to have additional (‘co-morbid’) health conditions that impact their overall health and their MS. In particular, vascular conditions – including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes – can accelerate the progression of MS and shorten a person’s lifespan. Therefore, prompt diagnosis and treatment of these conditions is important to comprehensive MS management.  

Regular check-ups and preventive screening as recommended for your age group can help you stay healthy and well. 

Maintaining a Balanced Relationship

Healthy relationships with care partners are built on open communication and mutual give and take. Each person in the relationship needs to feel like a valued contributor. 

If your partnership starts to feel out of whack – with one person taking on too much of the doing and giving and the other feeling increasingly like a non-contributor, it’s time to talk about a redistribution of responsibilities.  

If your MS symptoms are making it difficult for you to do the things you used to do for your relationship and your household, think about swapping some things around. 

Building Your Support Network – family, friends, medical team, employer, colleagues

Family, friends, colleagues, as well as your healthcare care team, are all essential parts of your support network. 

Stay connected with others, even if it means finding new activities, interests and opportunities for engagement; isolation isn’t good for your emotional or physical health! 

Research in Progressive MS

Major clinical trials are underway, testing novel approaches to treating all forms of MS, including progressive MS. 

The International Progressive MS Alliance is focusing new resources on finding the answers that will lead to new treatments and ultimately, end progressive MS. 

Scientists are learning new information about how MS damages the nervous system and cells and factors involved in the body’s ability to recover from injury. Early human trials of new therapies to repair myelin are already under way. 

Studies are providing new evidence that exercise and rehabilitation can improve many functions and even help rewire and possibly build areas of the brain, and researchers are pursuing these leads to find the best ways people can maximize quality of life. 

Conclusion

The journey with progressive MS will be different for every individual and will need to be managed differently. Success lies in building a support network, using all of the tools and resources available to you, and being creative and flexible in your problem-solving. You may need to do things differently than you did them before, but there’s no reason to sit on the sidelines.  

Be your own cheerleader but invite others onto your squad. It may feel difficult to cheer if the game isn’t going well, but on a basketball court, the cheerleaders don’t sit down if the score is not favorable. They cheer louder and get the fans involved, too. You can do this!