WORLD MS DAY IS MAY 29TH 2013:

BUT EVERYDAY CAN BE A DAY FOR MS

SUPPORT MS AWARENESS EVERY DAY

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SUDDENLY MS ~ DXed 07/30/09

THANK-YOU FOR CONTINUING TO VISIT SUDDENLYMS.COM

THANK-YOU TO ALL MY MS BROTHERS AND SISTERS, NEWLY DIAGNOSED, SUDDENLY MS MEMBERS, READERS, SUPPORTERS AND ADVOCATES FOR MS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD 

YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!!!!

~SUDDENLY MS

WHEN I WALK ~ NEWS:

Greetings Suddenly MS:

We have some exciting news!  When I Walk was awarded Best Canadian Feature Award at this years Hot Docs Film Festival. A big thank you to everyone who has supported the film in the past seven years. Click here to see the CBC News World coverage of this years award ceremony. A big thank you to Hot Docs for supporting my film

Recently, I created a new section on the When I Walk website "Still Dreaming" exhibits my artwork that is part of the film.

"Still Dreaming" is a compilation of my journals, sketches, and illustrations when I was able to draw with my hands. Since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in '05, I slowly lost the ability to draw, much less hold a pencil and write. Today, "Still Dreaming" draws parallels between my current self identity and the whimsical search for meaning that I possessed as a younger person. Gallery exhibition coming in the future!

New MS Drug Aubagio:

NEW Multiple Sclerosis Pill Gets US Approval

Sanofi SA has won U.S. approval for its Multiple Sclerosis pill Aubagio - one of the two treatments for the chronic disease that could return the French drugmaker to growth after several blockbuster drugs lost patent protection.

The drug has been shown to be less effective than some rivals but has milder side effects and analysts say it could find favor among newly diagnosed patients. Around 35 to 40% of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) sufferers prefer to take no medication rather than face unwanted side effects.

"In a clinical trial, the relapse rate for patients using Aubagio was about 30 percent lower than the rate for those taking a placebo," Russell Katz, director of the Division of Neurology Products at the Food and Drug Administration, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Aubagio is expected to launch on the U.S. market in a few weeks, a spokeswoman for Sanofi unit Genzyme said.

Multiple Sclerosis, which has no cure, affects 4 million people worldwide. It is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system and can lead to numbness, paralysis and loss of vision.

MS drugs Gilenya by Novartis and Biogen Idec Inc's BG-12 are expected to dominate a market that JPMorgan analysts predict growing to $14 billion in 2015 from $9.6 billion last year.

Aubagio is seen grabbing a much smaller chunk of this market, reaching modest sales of $353 million in the United States and five major European countries by 2020, according to business intelligence firm Datamonitor.

Cheuvreux analyst Marcel Brand, who has a more optimistic forecast, predicts peak sales of Aubagio of 1.48 billion euros by 2018. "Although Aubagio is not as effective on relapse rates as Gilenya, it's free of its longer-term side effects," he said.

Patients taking Gilenya have to be monitored because the drug causes the heart rate to slow down in the first hours after ingestion.

European regulators are expected to give their response to Aubagio in the first quarter of 2013.

Compared with older therapies for MS, Aubagio has the advantage of being taken orally but it has produced less impressive results in clinical tests than other oral treatments and has failed to show it was better than Merck's Rebif, a commonly used injectable drug for MS.

In addition to Aubagio, Sanofi has filed for approval for MS injectable drug Lemtrada.

In a recent setback, the FDA asked Sanofi to refile its marketing application for Lemtrada. If it wins approval, the drug could be launched in 2013.

The most common side effects associated with Aubagio include increased levels of the enyzme alanine transaminase, which can indicate damage to the liver, as well as hair loss, diarrhea, influenza, nausea and numbness of the skin, Sanofi said.

The ongoing Aubagio clinical development program involves more than 5,000 patients in 36 countries. Some patients in extension trials have been treated for up to 10 years, the company said.

Causes Of MS?:

Causes Of Multiple Sclerosis

No one knows what causes Multiple Sclerosis. There is NO CURE! However, medical researchers know that Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. Something causes the body’s immune system to go into over drive and attack healthy tissues in the body. In the case of MS, the myelin around the nerve cells is attacked.

There are several theories as to what causes the immune system to rev itself up. Many of these theories are controversial and not supported by standard, allopathic medicine. Many people in alternative medicine believe MS is caused by toxins in our food and environment. Mercury fillings and food additives such as MSG are at the top of that list. 

Other people think MS is caused by an over growth of bacteria in the body. The theory is that the body’s immune system works too hard to fight off these bacteria and it starts attacking healthy tissue, as well. There is some anecdotal evidence that this may be the case in some people.

Some people think MS is caused by being exposed to the EPV virus in childhood. This is the virus that causes Mononucleosis, and Epstein Barr Syndrome. It is thought the EPV virus could stay dormant in the system. Those who support this theory say that the EPV virus replicates itself similar to myelin, and the body’s immune system can not tell the difference.

Still others believe lack of nutrition causes the immune system to malfunction and attack healthy tissue in the body. These people maintain that over the centuries the minerals have been leeched out of the soil we use to grow food, and that genetic engineering of food products has reduced or made vitamins and minerals biochemically unavailable to our bodies.

This group advocates organic, raw food and whole food supplements. What ever your theory about the causes of Multiple Sclerosis, it is important that both medical researchers and the general population continue to research the causes of the disease so that we can find a cure or and effective preventive plan.

Fight For A Cure:

Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS):

The Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is a method of quantifying disability specifically in Multiple Sclerosis. 

How Is the Progress Of MS Measured?

For many years, neurologists have used scoring systems that are based on the symptoms of MS and the findings on a neurological examination. These measure the status and - over time - progression of MS.

These scoring systems are used in clinical studies to assess how much disease has 'progressed', although they have been criticized as not being the ideal way to accurately judge the impact of a treatment on the MS disease course. For this reason, other outcome measures are also assessed in studies.

The main scale used is the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) which was developed by Kurtzke in 1983 and measures Neurological impairment (or the damage to the functioning of the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord) in people with MS.

The EDSS score is one of the criteria used to decide whether a patient with MS is eligible to start on disease modifying drugs.

How Does the Expanded Disability Status Scale Work?

The EDSS score is generated following a Neurological examination carried out by a neurologist. When generating an EDSS score, the neurologist will use Functional System Scores. The Functional Systems (FS), of which there are 7, relate to various functions of the Central Nervous System such as visual functions and sensory functions. Following the examination, a score can be given for each Functional System ranging from 0 to 5 or 6 depending on the Functional System being examined. The scores are sometimes called grades. A grade of 0 (zero) relates to normal Function in the system. The higher the grade, the more problems have been detected in that Functional System.

Once a grade has been given for each Functional System the results are used, along with other information gained from the examination, to generate the EDSS score.

CURE MS:

MS Death Rate Per 100,000:

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

WORLD HEALTH RANKINGS

Death Rate Per 100,000

	1	Albania	2.8		65	Saint Lucia	0.2		129	Eritrea	0.1
	2	Norway	1.4		66	Morocco	0.2		130	Micronesia	0.1
	3	Denmark	1.4		67	Armenia	0.2		131	Mali	0.1
	4	United Kingdom	1.3		68	Israel	0.2		132	Botswana	0.1
	5	Lithuania	1.0		69	Trinidad/Tob.	0.2		133	Gabon	0.1
	6	Sweden	1.0		70	Lebanon	0.2		134	Madagascar	0.1
	7	Poland	0.9		71	Colombia	0.2		135	Costa Rica	0.1
	8	Finland	0.9		72	Bahrain	0.2		136	Nauru	0.1
	9	Canada	0.9		73	Malawi	0.2		137	Panama	0.1
	10	Iceland	0.9		74	Cote d Ivoire	0.2		138	Niger	0.1
	11	Slovenia	0.9		75	Tuvalu	0.2		139	Timor-Leste	0.1
	12	United States	0.9		76	Barbados	0.2		140	Kenya	0.1
	13	Luxembourg	0.9		77	Bahamas	0.2		141	India	0.1
	14	Switzerland	0.9		78	Jamaica	0.2		142	Sri Lanka	0.1
	15	Serbia/Monten	0.9		79	Swaziland	0.2		143	Mongolia	0.1
	16	Austria	0.9		80	Guinea	0.2		144	Cape Verde	0.1
	17	New Zealand	0.8		81	Zambia	0.2		145	Cook Islands	0.1
	18	Germany	0.8		82	Ethiopia	0.2		146	Azerbaijan	0.1
	19	Croatia	0.8		83	Guinea-Bissau	0.2		147	Indonesia	0.1
	20	Uruguay	0.8		84	Mozambique	0.2		148	Zimbabwe	0.1
	21	Ireland	0.7		85	Cameroon	0.2		149	Solomon Isl.	0.1
	22	Netherlands	0.7		86	Namibia	0.2		150	China	0.1
	23	Syria	0.7		87	Central Africa	0.2		151	Algeria	0.1
	24	Grenada	0.7		88	Chile	0.2		152	Bolivia	0.1
	25	Belgium	0.7		89	Chad	0.2		153	Palau	0.1
	26	Latvia	0.7		90	Equ. Guinea	0.2		154	Philippines	0.1
	27	Turkey	0.7		91	Paraguay	0.2		155	Ghana	0.1
	28	France	0.7		92	Angola	0.2		156	Kyrgyzstan	0.1
	29	Yugoslavia	0.7		93	Dominican Rep	0.2		157	Nicaragua	0.1
	30	Ukraine	0.7		94	Ecuador	0.2		158	South Korea	0.0
	31	Belarus	0.6		95	Tunisia	0.2		159	Turkmenistan	0.0
	32	Hungary	0.6		96	New Guinea	0.2		160	Japan	0.0
	33	Greece	0.6		97	Burundi	0.2		161	Honduras	0.0
	34	Kazakhstan	0.6		98	Rep Of Congo	0.1		162	Singapore	0.0
	35	Dominica	0.6		99	Lesotho	0.1		163	Peru	0.0
	36	Slovakia	0.6		100	El Salvador	0.1		164	Niue	0.0
	37	Bulgaria	0.6		101	Sierra Leone	0.1		165	Sao Tome	0.0
	38	Russia	0.5		102	Nigeria	0.1		166	Saudi Arabia	0.0
	39	Czech Republic	0.5		103	Burkina Faso	0.1		167	Oman	0.0
	40	Estonia	0.5		104	Uganda	0.1		168	Kuwait	0.0
	41	Australia	0.5		105	Tonga	0.1		169	Qatar	0.0
	42	Afghanistan	0.4		106	Comoros	0.1		170	Egypt	0.0
	43	Bosnia/Herzeg	0.4		107	Congo	0.1		171	Uzbekistan	0.0
	44	Malta	0.4		108	Benin	0.1		172	Malaysia	0.0
	45	Italy	0.4		109	Myanmar	0.1		173	Viet Nam	0.0
	46	Iran	0.4		110	Cambodia	0.1		174	Guyana	0.0
	47	Jordan	0.4		111	Gambia	0.1		175	Belize	0.0
	48	Andorra	0.4		112	Mauritania	0.1		176	Mauritius	0.0
	49	Portugal	0.4		113	Guatemala	0.1		177	Monaco	0.0
	50	Cyprus	0.3		114	Liberia	0.1		178	Kiribati	0.0
	51	Yemen	0.3		115	Samoa	0.1		179	Antigua/Bar.	0.0
	52	Djibouti	0.3		116	Bangladesh	0.1		180	Arab Emirates	0.0
	53	Somalia	0.3		117	North Korea	0.1		181	St. Kitts	0.0
	54	Sudan	0.3		118	Rwanda	0.1		182	Thailand	0.0
	55	Romania	0.3		119	Nepal	0.1		183	Brunei	0.0
	56	Spain	0.3		120	Togo	0.1		184	Fiji	0.0
	57	Mexico	0.3		121	Moldova	0.1		185	Suriname	0.0
	58	Cuba	0.3		122	Tanzania	0.1		186	Maldives	0.0
	59	Marshall Isl.	0.3		123	Vanuatu	0.1		187	Georgia	0.0
	60	Iraq	0.3		124	Laos	0.1		188	Haiti	0.0
	61	Libya	0.3		125	Bhutan	0.1		189	Seychelles	0.0
	62	Argentina	0.3		126	South Africa	0.1		190	Saint Vincent	0.0
	63	Venezuela	0.2		127	Pakistan	0.1		191	San Marino	0.0
	64	Brazil	0.2		128	Senegal	0.1		192	Tajikistan	0.0
Rank		Country	Rate	Rank		Country	Rate	Rank		Country	Rate