What is the fatality rate for multiple sclerosis? E-mail
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Multiple Sclerosis Questions and Answers

Many people who are not familiar with multiple sclerosis are scared of it. Especially since MS has a multitude of symptoms, and some patients end up immobilized in bed. This also leads to the question about this condition’s fatality rate. Members of the family and the sufferers as well are worried about this when they get their diagnosis.


The good news is that Multiple Sclerosis, even if it is a chronic condition that has no cure for the moment, is not fatal. Indeed, there are quite a lot of symptoms, and patients might experience highs and lows when it comes to their ability to move freely and do things, but the life span of a Multiple Sclerosis patient is almost the same as the life span of a person who doesn’t have this condition.


So, summing it up, there is no known fatality rate for Multiple Sclerosis, and Multiple Sclerosis patients can live reasonable and long lives. Of course, during the years, as the condition progresses, there are a couple of adjustments that need to be made, but the overall life of an MS patient isn’t much different than the life of someone who doesn’t have this condition.

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+6 # Sarah 2011-07-30 16:05
don't get peoples hopes up when that is not true.
my mother died of MS when she was 45 so that's bullshit.
you don't know what you're talking about.
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+3 # Sara 2011-11-02 10:39
My mother also died from MS, only eight years after being diagnosed!
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+3 # Jackson 2011-11-06 08:55
People die of MS all the time.
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+2 # Jude 2012-01-18 10:54
"the overall life of an MS patient isn’t much different than the life of someone who doesn’t have this condition."

This is not true at all - MS has taken everything I value away from me. so life isn't much different eh? big joke
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0 # Kristi 2012-02-23 16:11
My mother died at age 62 of MS. My mother didn't take care of herself with the MS so I am sure this is why she died. I hate this disease. It took a wonderful woman destroyed her faith in living a normal life and made her give up! My mother died 5 months ago. I am only 35 years old. I miss her soo much!
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0 # Kasey 2012-03-19 20:24
I agree with others. Don't spew lies. Saying that people don't die of M.S. may be technically true, but that's as true as saying that people don't die from HIV. In their zealousness to be "technically correct" the medical community led me to be TOTALLY unprepared for my mother's death from "complications" of m.s. when she was only 59. I feel so lied to and angry and blindsided. I am now 30 and without a mother. The medical community needs to stop feeding us lies. Oh and also on the way to being dead, her life was MISERY.
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0 # kristina pappillion 2012-04-04 23:03
Hi There, I am a 34 yr old woman with MS and have had it since 2001. I am not dying, MS is not killing me. Yes it has made life a little harder to deal with but again it will not kill me. So if you all think MS is a death sentence you need to take the time to actually research what it is. It depends on the person who has this disease to decide whether they will succumb or fight it. I am sorry for those of you who have lost someone close to you or if you have and are struggling with MS but I am living and am going to continue to live until I have lived my life fully.
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+2 # Sara 2012-04-05 11:26
Kristina, I'm glad you are determined to survive MS. You appear to have researched it enough to know that there are survivors of MS living full, happy lives. I hope you continue to be one of them and only succumb to death due to complications with having lived life fully (such as complications with old age.) However, your presumptuous assertion that Sarah's mother, Kristi's mother, Kasey's mother, my mother and countless other mothers chose to succumb to a long, painful and often humiliating death is incredibly insulting. Such an ignorant statement is hurtful and disrespectful to the memories and lives of our mothers. None of our mothers died from any weakness or choice; MS killed them.
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+2 # Sara 2012-04-05 11:27
Like Kasey, many of us were left angry and blindsided by watching a death we were totally unprepared for. Don't make it worse by accusing our mothers of making that choice. Loosing our mothers to MS is hard enough without having to deal with being told or feeling like they somehow intentionally left us. Kristi's emotional wound from watching what happened to her mother is still fresh, and while MS may have made it emotionally and physically difficult for her mother to take care of herself, the last thing that Kristi needs to hear right now is someone saying that her mother's death was akin to suicide. Kristi, Kristina obviously doesn't know what she was talking about.
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+1 # Sara 2012-04-05 11:29
Our mothers died from MS. Saying anything different incorrectly assumes that our mothers died because they failed to make the correct choice or put the correct effort towards dealing with “complications” with MS. Jude, maybe you can back me up here? You say that MS took away everything you valued. Did you mean to say that you “chose” to let “complications with MS” take away everything you valued? I didn't think so.
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+2 # Sara 2012-04-05 11:29
Kristina, I can guess why you said what you said. You probably thought that in making such a blanket statement about choices and how MS effects people differently that you could reaffirm for yourself what you very much want to believe: that surviving MS is a choice, and with strength and willpower you will be just fine. In stating that other women are suffering or have died from physical, emotional or psychological weaknesses puts space between you and them. It's a normal human response to attempt to disassociate oneself from those who are hurting, but that doesn't make it right. If disillusionment concerning the severity of MS for many people helps you, that's great because MS is a killer and you need all the ammunition you can get. However, be careful where you point that ammunition because it can hurt others.
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0 # kristina pappillion 2012-04-05 12:01
Hi there,

I was not trying to be insulting or insinuate anything I was more upset at the mindframe that this kills. I suffer pain everyday I did not say it was a choice to live or die and yes some do die from complications I lost an aunt in 1996 from them, but then again made friends with someone who has had MS since she was 15 and is in her 60's. It is not dissillusionmen t that is driving me but others that I have met along the way that show me it will not stop me so please don't take my words out of context I never said anyone chooses to die from this because it is debilitating more so than for others but there is a whole other community of people out there who are fighting this everyday by just talking with each other, you know lonliness is a part of this even with the best friends and family around and to have people speak so negatively is hard to swallow. I made the mistake of thinking this website was here to help I must be wrong.
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+1 # Sara 2012-04-05 13:54
You said, "So if you all think MS is a death sentence you need to take the time to actually research what it is. It depends on the person who has this disease to decide whether they will succumb or fight it." Right? Then you went on to describe your choice to live.

If this website is here to help, it is NOT helpful to say things like that. I don't get how it could possibly help you or others to tell a group of women who have lost their mothers and women who are suffering with MS that you are going to beat MS because of a simple choice to do so. It is also not helpful for you to insinuate that we have not taken the time to "actually research" MS.

If you truly do want to be a help, you can start by apologizing instead of accusing me of taking what you said out of context.
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0 # kiesha 2012-04-09 23:55
Sara, thank you for sticking up for people who have lost loved ones to this disease. In December of 2004 my mother passed away at age 37 because of MS complications. My mom didn't choose to live the last 4 years of her life in a hospital bed. She didn't choose to loose all mobility, including the luxury to eat....the inability to eat which took her life. She didn't choose to die a slow painful death. It just happened. I am glad to hear there are survivors...but to hear people say it's not deadly makes me sad. I'm just very sad. I miss my mom. I was only 14 when she died. I never really grieved and now I feel like I'm falling apart. I really think I need to talk to someone who feels how I feel. I sound pathetic but I'm sad...sorry.
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0 # Sara 2012-04-10 10:56
Kiesha, You don't sound pathetic and sad, unless we all are pathetic and sad. I was 5 when Mom was diagnosed with MS and she died only a few weeks after I turned 13 in the summer of 1993. My brother was 11 and my sister was 8. Our family was a mess. I think we are just now normalizing, if you can call it that. I'm at a point now, where I'm just now really allowing myself to explore my childhood, my mother, my family and what it's like to grow up how you and I did. Besides researching MS for myself (and stumbling on this site), I've read a few books that were helpful, namely Motherless Daughters. (Although, I wish that book talked more about those of us that don't remember having healthy mothers.) Read it. I'm also doing something a bit weird: I'm trained as a cultural anthropologist and I've been interviewing people about my mother before she got sick. I've even hunted down her long lost friends from when I was an infant. I'm slowly but surely working on a book...
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0 # Sara 2012-04-10 11:02
(I hate this 1000 symbols thing.) ... I'm not quite sure how this book is going to take shape but I was thinking lately that maybe I should talk to more women like me to see what they would want to read. Plus, I think it is good for us to talk to each other. I have a few friends that have lost their mothers, but MS is different because of how it affects their minds. (At least that is how it was with my mom.) It's hard to explain to other people what it is like loosing a mother, let alone loosing a mother to MS. So, my point is, if you want to talk, let's talk. I'm writing and illustrating full time (not just the book I just told you about) so I'm usually in front of my computer when I'm working. You can email me or send me an instant message on google talk. My email address is semessner@gmail .com. If any of you want to talk about MS, your mothers, any of that, contact me. Maybe we can make ourselves a group.
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+1 # Dianne 2012-04-11 11:41
I have had MS for 20 years. For the first 15 or so of it I felt helpless and like my life was out of control and that my destiny was not in my own hands. I spent alot of time feeling bad and sorry for myself and alot of time following a healthy wellness plan. I have also been doing alot of research on other parts of MS. Has anyone noticed that throughout many of the MS themed websites many of them talk about the same things as far as symptoms, causes and prevention but thats about as far as it goes? There are always sad stories and 95% of the comments are so depressing that I want to cry and join in and talk about how my life has changed and how much it really does suck to have MS. BUT I have realized that behaving that way with a so sad, so sorry, poor me attitude could be part of the reason why the disease is able to take such a dramatic foothold in our lives. It's a different concept but reading others stories and seeing similarities with my own life makes me more and more curious.
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0 # Dianne 2012-04-11 11:51
Im not just talking about the symptoms stuff, Im talking about habits, lifestyle etc that lead up to the diagnosis. What was your childhood like? Did you experience a significant stressful event when you were growing up? Did you have a chain of stressful events or was the whole thing difficult? Do you have a sensitivity to dairy? Do you get frequent yeast infections? Do you get an itchy rashs that pop up from no where? I would love to get your insight if you would help by emailing your responses to help@audreysfet ish.com. Its a website focused on health and wellness for people living with MS that want to THRIVE with MS instead of being a victim of it. This request is for research purposes only and will not be shared on the site. I appreciate your assistance and contact me with any questions.Thanks!
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