Reddit reviews Multiple Sclerosis: The History of a Disease
We found 1 Reddit comments about Multiple Sclerosis: The History of a Disease. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
I'm with you on this. In my readings it does seem that although we understand some of the how of MS - we are no where near understanding the cause or causal factors. Up until the MRI in the 1970s MS was still diagnosed mostly based on symptomology first codified by clinicians in the 1800s. (1854 being one of the first illustrations of pathology by Robert Carswell, but even that wasn't seen as specifically MS- it took until Charcot lectured to clarify, but even then he saw it as quite rare). Nystagmus, slurring of speech and coordination issues were seen as indictative of MS.
It wasn't until 1916 that inflammation and myelin were considered as factors in the problems with the 'nervous system' and the name Multiple Sclerosis wasn't actually established until 1955.
Although stuff like LP was known to have abnormality, it wasn't used as a diagnostic method until early 20th century (1940s, ish) and imaging as noted above wasn't a thing until later on. So, really in terms of understanding the disease diagnostically, clinicians are still finding their way. This is why its a very difficult disease to diagnose at times.
But, yeah - as of yet, there hasn't been a lot of movement away from 1960s theories of it being an autoimmune mediated condition and you're right about the drugs as well, a lot of them (and a lot of medical science in general concerning drugs) were tried on an idea that they might work, and within MS a lot of it is incredibly individualised.
There needs to be much more understanding of not only the cause, but the mechanisms of MS before a cure seems likely, at least, in my opinion.
There is a book called: Multiple Sclerosis, the history of a disease - Dr. Jock Murray that has a lot on how MS came to be known as a distinct disease entity, as well as the plethora of home cures, or instituional cures that have been tried and failed. Its also generally a good book if you wanna know more about MS; lot of the info above is taken in part from my memory of the time line outlined within its pages.