How To Write A Narrative Essay On Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system. It most commonly occurs in individuals between the ages of twenty and forty (1) and in higher numbers of women than men (2). In Multiple Sclerosis (or "MS") a loss of the nerves' axon coating myelin prohibits the nerve axons from efficiently conducting action and synaptic potentials. Scar tissue (called plaques or lesions) forms at the points where demyelination occurs in the brain and spinal cord, hence the name "Multiple Sclerosis"or "many scars" (3). The demyelination found in MS is thought to be caused by an autoimmune process, in which the body's immune system attacks its own healthy tissue (4). Other diseases thought to have an autoimmune basis are

I chose to sit down with my friend Brittany and have a conversation about her experience living with multiple sclerosis and the impact it has had on her life. I opened the interview asking Brittany to describe her illness, and she explains multiple sclerosis is an auto-immune disease that affects her nervous system. In Brittany’s case, her immune system is attacking the myelin sheaths on her brain, spinal cord, and optic nerve, which causes lesions to develop. The lesions press on these delicate areas which result in debilitating physical and mental symptoms.

Multiple sclerosis is a complex, autoimmune disease caused by damage of the fatty myelin sheaths around axons of the brain and spinal cord which leads to demyelination, lesions (scaring) and inflammation1, 2, 3. This damage leads to disruption of nerve impulse along axons resulting in the many symptoms seen in multiple sclerosis patients. Although its exact etiology is unknown, current research indicates that multiple sclerosis is a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors. It has been established that multiple sclerosis is not inherited but research is being focused on genetic influence and suceptibility3. Like many other diseases with genetic components to their etiology, disease risk for multiple sclerosis can be

As a child, I thought my parents were invincible. I grew up believing they were superheroes who had the ability to whisk away all my problems. Unfortunately, when I was 15-years-old, my father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The hardest part about his diagnosis was that his sister had been diagnosed with MS a couple years before and we had seen her health deteriorate so quickly that she was already wheelchair bound. During this time my family was scared. The little information we knew about MS did not seem hopefully and we were worried about what the future would hold for our family. Lucky, we were blessed with a great neurologist who eased the insecurity we felt and gave my father the strength to be optimistic about his diagnosis.

Eight years ago my mother was diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis, the most common form of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affecting up to 85% of the MS patients, with twice as many women being affected as men1. It was a very difficult period for her as she had received very little support from her family and I find it fascinating how she managed to withstand the pressure and fight her condition despite all the odds being against her. For these reasons, I composed a poem from my mother’s point of view to try to empathize with her experience and understand the underlying issues of her condition. To have a sound foundation for this poem, I have carried out a

Imagine waking up with a steady tremor of your hands, an unpredictable pain in the head and

My Grandma called my mom the same time she told me because my mom didn’t know. Finally, after all the things we did and to top it off, my Grandma said we are going to a Cardinals game. I had never been to a Cardinals game. I was so excited because they were doing good and they

I drove home that night by myself, crying, barely able to keep it together. I was questioning everything, why did this have to happen to us? What was wrong with my little sister and was she going to be okay?

You pick up the telephone to call your best friend. You dial a number which will, in effect, let the phone know where to send the signals. But unbeknownst to you, something has worn away the rubber which covers and protects the wires within your phone. Some signals cannot get through, and the ones that do are ambiguous. As a result your important information does not get conveyed to your friend.

As I was walking down the trail waiting for my cousin to join me, my phone rang. It was my mom. I picked up the phone.

My mom gets off the phone then comes to my sister and I with her phone in her hand with a picture of my grandma on it (the same day). In the picture my grandma was eating some food in the restaurant on her throat there was a bump that had a bandage over it. My mom says, '' Do you see that bump on your grandma's' throat". "Yes" we said. She has had nodules for years, this time they found out that it had become a malignant tumor. My mother breaks down crying (with my dad right by her side), because her mother had cancer. We never would have thought that our grandma would ever have to be diagnosed with cancer. You know when you hear the word cancer, that it is a life or death situation. My sister and I were devastated, shocked, and in denial. My

The next morning, I was sitting in the living room after watching Saturday morning cartoons when I decided I would call the number my grandmother had given me with shaky hands I picked up the phone and dialed the number this was the first of many to come over the next few months

Later that night when we were all snuggled in our beds, we got a heart wrenching call. My aunt had passed away, but she said she wanted us to keep going for her, because she loved to travel. On the long car ride home,

A few weeks after I turned eight, I got a phone call. My mother told me that it was an very important person that wanted to speak to me. In my head, I would ask myself, "what very important person would want to speak to an 8 year old?" Of course I answered the phone call, it was an aunt from my father 's side of the family, her name is Rosie. She was telling me about herself, then invited me to come over the next day to her apartment, so that she could get to know me in person.

The phone rang early the morning of July 21, 2013. It was a call from my brother-in-law telling me the news of my mother's death. The news came as no surprise. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer in May of 2013, and her death had been expected. I had been trying to prepare myself for this day ever since I had heard the diagnosis.