New medications enable MS patients to continue life without disability | Moves in Medicine

RIVERSIDE, N.J. (WPVI) — A multiple sclerosis diagnosis used to mean a future of disability. But now, a revolution in medications allows MS patients to pursue their dreams.

Those medications are helping a New Jersey woman continue her artistic journey.

For Brittany Brydges-Neely of Riverside, New Jersey, art is life. She teaches it, shows and sells her works, and it’s her hobby.

“That kind of gets me out of the stress of everyday life,” she says.

Art is also important in helping Brittany cope with multiple sclerosis.

The signs came and went before her diagnosis – things like fatigue, a racing heart, and vertigo.

“The entire world in front of my eyes would just kind of slowly rotate in front of me,” Brittany says of the vertigo experience.

Neurologist Petra Brayo of Temple Health says those are fairly typical MS symptoms.

Others include numbness or tingling and lack of coordination.

“Dragging your foot – that can be one of it. Changes in vision, like noticing that one eye is getting blurry over a couple days,” are also frequent symptoms, according to Dr. Brayo.

In MS, a person’s own immune system breaks down the protective covering of nerves.

“It ends up unfortunately attacking the body’s own brain and spinal cord,” says Dr. Brayo.

She says MS is more common in people with low Vitamin D, or a history of an Epstein-Barr viral infection, like mononucleosis, which Brittany had.

Exposure to smoking is also a risk.

“I grew up in a household that smoked. I never smoked a day in my life,” Britttany says.

But Dr. Brayo calls MS an “equal opportunity disease.”

“Men and women can get as equally affected. Multiple racial groups. I have a lot of African American patients,” she says.

Although the specific trigger is still unknown, doctors do know that early diagnosis and treatment matter.

Unlike the harsh, ineffective drugs of 25 years ago, Brittany’s twice-a-year infusion can prevent new lesions – and disability – with few side effects, so she can focus on healthy living, limiting stress, and pursuing her art.

“If we just get control over the disease, they can carry on with whatever they want for their life,” says Dr. Brayo.

Because MS can be unpredictable, Brittany says a good mindset is important, to avoid being alarmed as symptoms come and go.