WEBVTT - How Multiple Sclerosis Works 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.640 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:13.760 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.959 There's Charles w Chuck Bryant, Sherry's over there. Their finger 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.599 on the button, and this is stuff you should know. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.479 Not the button. Okay, well it's a button. She doesn't 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.280 have the nuclear suitcase. It's the button. As far as 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:34.200 we're concerned, that's our nuclear suitcase. Yeah, because we're dropping 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:39.680 bombs every time we drop an episode. That's right. How 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:42.559 are you feeling pretty good? I am. I'm a little, uh, 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:47.280 a little apprehensive about this one. Well, I've been avoiding 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.280 this one for years because my uh, one of my 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:55.520 very best friends died from complications of MS oh man 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.920 just last year. You failed to tell me that when 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.480 I said this one over your way as a suggestion. Well, 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.839 you'd sent it before before he died, and I didn't 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:07.959 think I could do it, and I just kind of 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.760 feel like, now it's the time, you know. And weirdly, 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.759 yesterday was his birthday and no would have been his birthday, 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:16.760 and you did not know that and had sent it 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:18.120 over and it was just kind of one of those 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:21.000 eerie things where I was like, all right, this is 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.400 this has got to happen. What's your friend's name, Billy, Well, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:26.880 this one's for Billy. Yeah, and this will be we'll 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.520 pepper his story throughout this. It's very sad stuff. Man. Well, 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:32.720 I'm right here with you. Man. Thank you. Just lead 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.959 on me when you need it. I appreciate it. Okay. Uh. 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:40.160 So we are talking multiple sclerosis, or m S as 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.480 it's called. UM, and I knew very little about this. 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.760 I guess you probably are a lot more familiar with 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.240 it than I am. Then, huh yeah, I mean obviously 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:54.080 personally his journey with it, but as we will see, UM, 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.000 everyone's journey with MS is different. It is UM. Depending 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.160 on what kind you have, and depending on you as 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.960 an individual, it can progress in different ways, very slowly, 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.120 very quickly. Can be devastating, it can be not it 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.400 can be very manageable. Um. He have one of the 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.920 worst kinds. So yeah, from what I understand, it's very 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:20.680 fairly rare for someone to die from complications of MS. Right, Yeah, 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:22.079 I mean, I don't know if rare is the word, 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:26.639 but it's definitely not the common outcome. I got you 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.760 somewhere between rare and common. I think I got you, 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.200 but it's already a fairly rare disease. I think something 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.520 like four hundred thousand people in the United States and 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.839 I think two million worldwide have it, which I mean 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:43.359 it's a substantial number of people, but in the context 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:47.680 of the larger global and national population, it's not that many. 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:51.400 It is rare, I would guess. Yeah, it's um, just 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:53.760 a little bit of an overview. I guess, um they 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.919 call it the prime of life disease. Uh, and it's 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.760 very cruel in that way because, um, it most often 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.959 likes people between twenty and fifty, but I think even 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.960 usually in in you're like twenties. Uh, and that's when 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:11.760 Billy was hit with it, and um, it's uh. I 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:16.000 think more women than men get it, Yeah, by far, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.760 because it's an autoimmune disease, and more women get autoimmune 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.920 diseases more, which I didn't know. More Caucasians get it, 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:28.320 and apparently Caucasians of Northern European descent or more likely 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.240 to get it. And it's really there's a lot of 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.360 mystery about why people get this, Yeah, like, for example, 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:41.080 why Caucasian people more than people with darker skin um 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:45.440 or Also I think part of the same coin why 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.080 people who live, you know, away from the equator more 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.080 than people who live in the tropics. That suggests that 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:54.120 the sun might have something to do with it. Or 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.440 I think one of the things that they've been looking 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.000 into lately is vitamin D, which you produce through exposed 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.120 sure of this on Yeah, it's really, um a mystery 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.680 in a lot of ways. Um. Some people have have 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.600 brought up the idea of there are clusters of areas. 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.600 Other people have said, you know that's not the case, 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:19.320 uh clusters or bs um you're reading you know your 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.839 your reverse engineering a what do you call it? A cause? 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:30.920 I guess stop bringing up clusters basically, h environmental or um, 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:35.400 whether it's environmental or hereditary, don't know for sure. That 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.039 would that would suggest that clusters could exist, right, But 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.360 the fact that they're not sure if it is environmental 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.120 or not, I would think that leaves that cluster thing 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:48.559 open to debate. Yeah, but whether or not you can 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.719 it's hereditary, it's up for debate too, because I think 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.080 it says the risk for people with parents, siblings, or 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.480 children who are diagnoses between one and twenty and one 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.400 and forty, whereas it's what one and seven fifty for 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.120 the general population. UM obviously got something to do with 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.240 heredity or or it could be that you tend to 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.760 live with your parents and your siblings, so you would 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.480 share the same environments them too. So there's a lot 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.560 of mystery surrounding the underlying causes, there really is, and 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.960 so much so that they don't even know what is 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.440 going on. Well, they do know generally what's going on 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:31.000 on the biological level, but not specifically, right. So, multiple 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.880 sclerosis is like you said, it's an autoimmune disease where 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:39.080 your body's immune system attacks your own body. So there's 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:42.000 a number of different ones, Like there's Crohn's disease is 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:47.560 one UM, there's inflammatory bowel syndrome, and they all have 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.960 in common that the body is mistaking, or the immune 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.640 system is mistaking some part of some normal natural part 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.720 of the body as a foreign invader and is attacking 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.640 it as such. And in the case of multi pull sclerosis, UH, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.159 the body is mistaking what's called the mile in sheath, 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:11.360 this fatty substance that protects the axons that UM neurons, 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:17.440 that nerve cells communicate between UM. They attack that sheath, 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.479 and as they attack that sheath, they start to break 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.560 it down, and a basically what amounts to scar tissue 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.120 and a type of plaque starts to develop and those 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:32.080 form lesions, and it can happen anywhere on your brain 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.920 or your central nervous system. Yeah, that's that's essentially what 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.640 multiple sclerosis is. Yeah, those plaques, um, those are that's 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.560 called the sclerosis. So literally, multiple sclerosis means you have 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.840 multiple plaques this hardened tissue at places on your body. Uh. 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:50.880 And like you said, you know you have the neurons, 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.480 which are the nerve cells themselves, and the axons or 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.680 the fibers that connect everything wrapped in that sheath and 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:01.040 that sheath it's really it's very basic and cruel how 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:06.320 it acts. You know, any autoimmune disease is just devastating because, uh, 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.800 there's just something about the body making a mistake and 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:14.080 turning on it's on an otherwise healthy self. That's just uh, 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.120 I don't know, it's hard to hard to wrap your 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.600 head around it. It really is, um And one of 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.120 the reasons why it's so tragic it is because we 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.480 have really no idea how to make the body stop 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.280 doing that. And in the case of multiple scores, you 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.360 you have a body that's attacking the mile in sheath, 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.640 But researchers aren't quite sure exactly what part of the 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:40.000 mile in sheath is triggering the attack, so they can't 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.280 tailor drugs to stop the body from doing that. They 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.800 just know it's going after milin. Yeah, and the milin 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.239 can repair itself if there's damage. But um, the problem 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.720 with MS is this, they call it de milonization. It's 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:57.400 happening to too fast basically. Uh. And sometimes it can 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.720 be so severe that that those nerve fibers are severed 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.600 outright right exactly. It's kind of like if you clear 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.600 cut a forest and then before you let the forests 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.040 come back, you start cutting down saplings. It's never gonna 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.800 come back. Same thing with the mile in chief. Um. 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:18.320 It is difficult to diagnose it first because the early 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.480 signs or things like you know, maybe a little dizzy 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:27.640 and may be fatigued. Um, maybe my vision is blurry occasionally. Um. 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:29.400 And it kind of comes and goes to where people 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.440 you know think like, oh, maybe it's migraines, maybe it's 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:38.360 some you know, something minor and um. Because it is 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.959 not the most common thing, I don't think doctors immediately 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:42.800 are like, well, we need to get you into a 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:47.520 spinal tap, right, And because it doesn't necessarily follow a 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.720 strict set of symptoms, you know, you can get those 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:55.760 lesions anywhere, and since their nerve um, they're disrupting or 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.679 affecting the nerve signals, they can present in all sorts 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.920 of different ways. Right. So, yeah, doctors are frequently stumped 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.559 when you present with MS symptoms. Should we take a 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:07.240 break and talk a little bit about the history and 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.440 then get back into it. Oh yeah, sure, all right, 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:37.640 let's do it. So historically, ms UM, although it is 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:43.160 new on the described disease front um, obviously it's been 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.160 around for a long time and people just didn't know 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:47.720 what the heck was going on. Yeah, there's a saint 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.840 that had it, they think, Yeah, back in the Middle Ages, 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:55.599 Saint Ledwena, who's Dutch. And because she was Dutch, she 0:09:55.679 --> 0:10:01.480 was ice skating once back in the fourteen the fifteenth century, Yeah, 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.520 fourteen thirties, she was ice skating and she fell, and 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:15.120 after she fell she developed um excruciating pain, headaches, trouble walking, paralysis, UM. 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.040 And apparently there would be periods where she didn't have 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.760 these symptoms and then they would come back. And it 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.280 would get worse and then she would not have them again, 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.600 which are hallmarks of multiple sclerosis. As we'll see. Yeah, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:31.240 these attacks are flare ups followed by periods of remission. UM. Yeah, 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.920 that's a specific type of MS. Well, yeah, which we'll 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:36.360 get to that. But UM. King Georgia third apparently had 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:41.040 a grandson who had a very extensive diary about his 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.800 health until he died, and most people think like he 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:50.320 clearly had ms UM and I believe that. Uh. There's 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.959 a couple of decades after that that UM, a doctor 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.640 Jean Martin Charcot became the first person at least it 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:03.520 got credit with with describing the disease itself UM, identifying 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.920 it and describing it. He's known as the father of 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.920 modern neurology. He's popped up in some of our other stuff. 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.240 He sounded familiar because he had a woman, a patient 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:16.720 that UM had these symptoms. She eventually died. He dissected 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:22.640 her brain, discovered these lesions and called it scleros en plaque. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.920 And then the malin was UM was discovered after that, 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.040 But they didn't they didn't put two and two together 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:32.800 at a time with the island, but it was discovered 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:36.680 after that. So the the plaques in the effect on 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:42.199 the milin um was really first discovered or demonstrated by 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:47.800 Scottish doctor James Dawson, who, thanks to UM better microscopes 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.720 than previous researchers that had, he could see, Oh yeah, 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:55.840 these lines of communication between nerve cells and brain cells 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.760 are basically being worn down to nothing and in some 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.760 case this is broken and um, this is the basis 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:08.080 of MS. I'm James Dawson, goodnight. Yeah, we should do 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.160 one on the microscope because it seems like time and 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:15.000 time again we've had like just literally because the being 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.800 able to see things smaller has gotten more advanced, like 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.000 every time that has taken a leap forward medical science 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:24.720 as Oh, sure, it's really interesting. Plus we'll get to 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:29.040 say Anton von leven hook that bunch. Yeah, we've talked 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:34.080 about him before, right. Yeah. So Dawson, uh described the inflammation, 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:36.560 but they thought it was like a virus or a 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.640 toxin running through the bloodstream at the time. Um, they 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.280 did for a long time. Actually well yeah, and ironically 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:47.720 in the thirties, UM there were lab mice going hey, 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:52.040 it's autoimmune, right, and doctors were like, oh, don't listen 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.600 to the lab results from the slee mice. No, it's 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.199 clearly a blood toxin that's doing that. Yeah, So they 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:58.959 sort of were not looking at the evidence right in 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:00.559 front of their faces for a little while until the 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.920 nineteen forties, when I think at Columbia University they found 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.520 that um these weird protein byproducts and their and their 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:13.480 cerebro spinal fluid. And that was seven and that's kind 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.640 of when that's kind of when the doors really opened 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:18.600 and they said, Oh, I think we know what's going on, 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:20.560 and I think we know how we can test for 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.840 this right. Right, that established one of the big tests 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:28.319 for for um MS, which is they're looking for so 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.680 they go do a spinal tap, right, which is where 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:34.880 they draw a sample of um cerebro spinal fluid from 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:39.440 between your vertebrate um and when they're testing for MS, 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:44.680 they're looking for high levels of I G G immunoglobin, 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:49.720 G antibodies, and something called oglio clonal bands, which are 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.480 another type of protein that are immunoglobins. And then they're 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.080 also looking for these protein by products that are the 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:00.679 results of myle in being broken down in the cerebro 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.360 spinal fluid, which is not supposed to happen. So when 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.240 they find all this stuff, they can say this is 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.720 probably multiple sclerosis. And since the forties they've they've had 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.360 that test, and then starting in about the eighties or nineties, 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.200 they also introduced m R I. And when you compare 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.880 those two things together and they both suggest MS, you've 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.080 got a pretty good MS diagnosis. Yeah, but it, like 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.040 you know, like I said, it's a slow process. I 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.560 remember Billy, it took a while until they finally landed 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.880 on MS for him, and that just kind of seems 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.560 to be the way it goes. What were his initial symptoms? 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.960 Do you do you remember? You know, like we didn't. 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:44.080 He was a college roommate and we didn't. Um. He 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:48.560 ended up moving to the Billy was. He was a 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.840 very unique guy. He he lived life to the fullest 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.680 and did not really follow the rules of uh modern man. 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.320 Where did he move? He kind of dropped out. He 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:01.200 went to Boone, North Carolina, which is a great place 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:05.680 to drop out and lived in a one room shack 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.360 like cabin in the middle of the woods. It's a 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.480 great place to do that with the toilet just sort 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.840 of in the room, a toilet or a bucket that 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.120 was a toilet, had running water and electricity, but it 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:19.840 was a one room thing and I went up there 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.040 a few times and stayed with him. But um, we 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.520 would like, you know, drink whiskey and shoot guns and 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:29.000 a cross streams on the toilet probably so like Ghostbusters. 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.400 So Billy kind of dropped out, and um, this was 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:34.680 before MS. You know, he just did that. You know, 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.400 as a he was like a river guide, a whitewater 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.920 river guide, and live the life that those dudes live, 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.200 which is to say, not being responsible for a lot 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.720 and kind of spending a lot of time on the river. Yeah, 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:48.960 it's been a lot of time on the river and 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.880 hanging out. Um, so he dropped out, and you know, 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.120 didn't have a phone. This was pretty cell phone, so 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:56.760 we weren't in the best touch. This is when I 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.680 was post college living in New Jersey. So the memories 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.800 of his exact early diagnosis or a little foggy, but 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:09.960 I think I remember like fogginess and uh, dizziness kind 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.680 of be in his first warning signs. But he wasn't 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.000 the kind of like, oh, well, you know, I need 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.200 to run right out to the doctor and see what's 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:22.600 going on. No, And it certainly wasn't the Billy way, 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:26.320 so he you know, he didn't do himself any favors 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.920 in the early years, and then when he finally did 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.320 find out, he didn't do himself any favors because he 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.480 didn't take care of himself and he didn't rehab and 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.320 take his medication like you should have and sort of 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.520 fell down into a spiral of alcohol and drug abuse 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.760 and um which did not help. Like you know, they say, 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.160 if you get a diagnosis, you want to you want 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.520 to live as clean as you can and work out 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.800 and be as physical as you can and really try 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.360 and take care of your body to stave off these 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.200 physical symptoms. And he didn't do any of that stuff. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.800 And plus the early thing is a really big part 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.560 of it too, because again, what's happening is the mile 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.360 in sheets around your entire central nervous system or subject 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:10.760 to attack. And so if you can catch this earatly, 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.040 you can kind of stave off some of those successive 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.320 attacks where if you just ignore it or don't pay 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.320 attention to it, it will just get worse and worse 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:23.440 and worse. It's a it's what's called devastating progressive disease. Yeah, 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:24.919 and there's you know, a lot of people keep it 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.719 a secret at first because it can um some of 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.880 the physical side effects can be embarrassing. I know that 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.520 this article mentioned and at Funicello waited for years to 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.160 come out, you know, former Disney Mouseketeer, And she didn't 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.800 come out until I think there were reports that she 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.160 was an alcoholic because they see your stumbling around. Uh, 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.560 and it can be confused with things like that publicly 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:50.600 and um and then she said, actually, tabloids, I have MS. 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.840 Oh sorry and that and the same with Richard Pryor. 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:59.040 He kept his MS diagnosis a secret for a little while. Yeah, 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.000 I remember everybody's Richard Pryor's got tremors because he used 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.719 to free base. Yeah, no, turned out MS. Yeah totally. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.880 Muhamma Ali didn't have MS. But I remember people when 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.919 Ali's condition got worse, We're like, oh, yeah, that you 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.720 know see what that's what happens with boxing. Well, I 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:20.000 think they might be right about that. One was by boxing. Yeah. 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:24.439 I think he had brain plaques from too many from 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:30.720 uh CTE. Okay, for some reason, I thought, I mean 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:32.920 I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that's why 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:37.960 he Uh, he had Parkinson's. I think it was brought 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.480 on by all the punches he took. I think, yeah, 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.560 I didn't research any of this, so I'm speaking off 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.080 the cuff same here, all right, That's that's what we 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.080 do well. At any rate. UM people can kind of 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.119 keep it a secret for a little while because it 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.359 can be a diagnosis can be scary at first when 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.879 you get diagnosed with MS because of the unpredictability, and 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.679 you sort of have to I remember with Billy, they 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.000 were kind of like, we gotta kind of see how 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.920 this goes before we know what kind you have, right, 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:11.359 which is fairly primitive as far as medicine goes. So Chuck, 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:15.199 there's UM, there's this article has four kinds. What I 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:19.480 saw is that it's been pared down to basically two. Yeah. 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:25.359 Our article says that there's progressive, relapsing, relapsing, remitting UM, 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.640 there is primary progressive, and then secondary progressive. And basically 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.679 what I saw is that UM, there's an umbrella group 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:39.359 called UM remitting or relapsing UH multiple sclerosis r MS, 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:44.160 and then there's another kind that is UM, sorry, it's 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:47.880 relapsing multiple sclerosis. And then the other kind is called 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:53.320 primary progressive. Right, And with relapsing MS. You are, you 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.440 have MS symptoms, you have basically what amounts to an attack, 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.640 right where your symptoms come on and then they subside 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.480 after a while. And during the time that they subside, 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:08.880 you're in what's called um remission, right, and then they 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.879 come on again, so you're in relapse phase. But during 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.360 those two times, your disease is not getting worse, right, 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:23.480 it's not progressing. That's the relapsing type of multiple sclerosis. 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.320 The other kinds primary progressive, and they used to call 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:31.760 that one UM yeah, and they kind of folded all 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.400 those together. But the one that survived is primary progressive. 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:39.080 And that's basically, like you are, your diseases getting worse 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.320 pretty much constantly, and it might be happening fast, it 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.359 might be happening slowly, but you have a disease progression 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:50.720 that can be noted by the people in charge of 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:53.480 taking care with care of you. But then during that 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:57.560 you may have small periods where you don't have symptoms, 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.720 so you've got a remission, or you have periods where 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.119 they come on really strong and it gets really cute, 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.760 so you have a relapse. But during this time, during 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.000 like say a year or five years or ten years, 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:13.080 your MS is getting worse, you know by the year. Yeah, 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.480 which that was what Billy had got you. That's what 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:17.639 it Yeah, that's what it sounds like. I have the 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:22.120 impression that, um, the any kind of progressive type of 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:26.560 of most polt clerosis is the worst of the two 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:29.760 because you're you're you have it like basically all the time, 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:31.800 and it's getting worse as it goes along. Yeah, and 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:34.080 his would come together, his would come and fits and 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:38.439 starts for the first period of years. Um, and it 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.040 was that classic thing, I think where his flare ups 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.919 would be like not so bad at one point and 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:47.320 then kind of calmed down and then be really bad 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:49.920 and then calm down. But the whole time there was 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:53.119 a progressive thing going on to where he was. He 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:56.600 was obviously worst case scenario, um, like couldn't walk in 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:02.359 a wheelchair, couldn't talk, um, and that poor guy. Yeah, 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.680 you know, the muscles fasticity is a big um hallmark 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:09.199 of a kind of the worst kinds And that's when you're, um, 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.560 you know, your body is just not communicating anymore, like well, no, 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:15.919 that mile in sheath is exposed and so the the 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:20.600 electrical impulses are going Hey, wires. So the muscles they're 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.000 commanding are going hey wired too. Yeah, so he he, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:25.520 like I said, he walked with a cane for a 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.480 little while, but eventually like just had to go, you know, 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.040 lost tons of weight, eventually ended up in a wheelchair, 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.720 and was his body was almost constantly in a state 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:38.679 of muscle tension. You know. The ironic part about that 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:42.200 is it sounds like his immune system was super healthy, 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:44.639 which is how it was able to stage those massive 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:50.480 attacks on on his poor mile in sheaths. Maybe you know, yeah, 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:52.919 because you think if you had a weakish immune system, 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.800 your MS wouldn't be quite as bad. Yeah, I guess 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:59.040 I do, remember he thought about that. Yeah, it's really 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:03.200 interesting and it's super cruel to see, um, like the body, 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:05.320 like I said, the body turn on itself like that 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.520 because Billy was very athletic and he was a good singer, 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:10.760 and like it took away his ability to do all 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:13.520 this stuff. Um, and it got so bad where he 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:16.919 would um and it mentions it in this article about 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:18.600 like even when you're eating, you have to be really 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:21.520 careful because you can choke on your tongue or choke 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:24.520 on food. Um. When he would get cracked up and 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:27.439 laugh at us. It would like it would be you know, 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:28.920 it would be good for him, but it would also 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:31.160 be a little bit scary because he would his laugh 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:33.920 would get out of control such where you had to 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:35.920 worry about if you know, he had taken a sip 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:38.679 of water or something, you could choke on it. Yeah, 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:42.200 apparently that's one of the ways that people do die 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:46.040 from complications of MS is choking because they have swallowing problems. Yeah, 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:49.040 that was definitely, I mean, I don't remember the exact 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:54.720 like literal cause of death at the end, but um 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:57.639 you know, it just ravaged his body basically, so the 0:23:57.720 --> 0:24:01.720 other ones I saw where that your lung function, weakend. 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:07.440 Muscle activity is one of the other main ways um uh, 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:11.400