Dealing with decline from multiple sclerosis [Video]

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – Multiple Sclerosis can be a debilitating condition, especially in older adults. It occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks parts of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

While the neurological symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, can often be controlled with medications in younger patients, as time goes on the disease can transition into a constant decline that is less responsive to treatments, known as Progressive MS.

“One of the biggest challenges for treating older adults with MS is that our conventional disease-modifying therapies are no longer effective,” explained Neurologist Dr. Yinan Zhang.

Ohio State University Department of Neurology Chair Benjamin Segal agreed that “the drugs that are so effective at blocking these relapses are really not very effective at stopping that slow accumulation of disability which often leads people to end up needing a cane or even a wheelchair, …