rrms to ppms ?

[diggiesmallz]

Hi everyone.! Hope you all had a good 4th!
       I was wondering what the cycle of ms is starting out with rrms?
        What are the chances of secondary prog and the rest?
         I have been wondering about this and I don't quite understand what I read about it online.
      Thanks for the help fellow msers! :)

Prayers to all,
Diggie

[diggiesmallz]

Thank you both so much! I really appreciate your info! Much more understandable now for sure.  Awesome women!
Prayers,
   Diggie

[HVAC]

Every case of MS is different with a different disease process. There are to factors in MS which cause symptoms inflammation and nerve damage. Inflammation comes and goes when It goes so do symptoms this is mostly where relapsing and remitting comes in. Nerve damage is permanent and those are symptoms that stay with you. Some people go a long time with out much nerve damage. Most people start with RRMS. fewer start with PPMS 10-15% which manifests later usually in a person's 50's it is much more subtle at first. I have PPMS and did not know I had MS. I thought the doctors were crazy telling me I had MS. I do not have attacks which are noticeable or remissions just gradually worsening symptoms. Sometimes so subtle I do not know I have them.

It all depends where damage takes place in each of us. I have never had optic neuritis nor will I. I have never been hospitalized but once for MS and that was in 1965. I am not being treated for MS with a DMD I am only monitored once a year because there is little they can do for me. I am still active walking dogs and riding horses. I have had double vision, vertigo, cognitive issues, and head aches since I was two. My walking is slowing since I hit my late 40's. The heat has just started bothering me. I do have uncontrolled muscle spasms which started on my left side and have gradually moved to the right.

No doctor can say how your MS will go. I used to worry about every symptom of MS and getting it. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now I know some symptoms I may not get. I have learned to quit worrying about it. When things come up I learn to adjust.

Most people with RRMS at some point will go into Secondary Progressive which has its challenges because of the nerve damage. The trade off is there are not the dramatic relapses and remissions. There is a leveling off.

The DMDs are very good and keep most people healthier for long periods. There are always challenges with this disease for sure.

I have had it for 47 years and they did not diagnose it until I was 44. They did knew I had brain stem involvement but the neurologist did not know it was MS.

Only 5 percent of people go into Secondary Relapsing MS so you probably do not have to worry about it. These are really just catagories since every case is unique. My MS Specialist has to go through the PPMS diagnosis every year and decide if he thought that was right even though he was so sure at the beginning. No catagory really sums up the individual case. It often takes longer to be diagnosed with PPMS because it is so different from RRMS and the diagnosing criteria follows RRMS more closely.

It is confusing but with understanding it is easier.

We with MS are also subject to the same disease processes as the general population. Many of us find out things we thought were Ms were other illness all together. Everything is not necessarily MS. It is confusing for us and for Doctors. I always go to my GP first unless I am sure a symptom is MS.

Alex

[supermum_ms]

If I'm understand the question correctly, RRMS is the most common, with PPMS the least. A person dx with RRMS 'may' in time, progress to the point where they no longer have distinct relapses or remittence and their status is changed to SPMS.

The time frame from RRMS to SPMS is estimated to be 15-20 years though i think that time frame was established prior to DMD's (disease modifiying drugs that slow down the disease) so probably no longer an absolute like it once was, a true accurate picture for todays MSers is basically unknown. The individual's level of disability scale, how long they had MS prior to starting a DMD, if the DMD is working or not etc etc

I do recall something in our health pages about each classification, might be worth having a look through, sorry i couldn't locate it for you but i'm pretty sure its there.

Cheers.........JJ