ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This page was added to the original survey after several requests were received for information about the author. I wrote the MS survey. My name is not important and won't be mentioned here for reasons discussed below. However, it certainly seems fair that I tell you about myself since the survey asks so much about you.
I am not a doctor or research scientist. I am a multiple sclerosis sufferer and an engineer by profession. My symptoms started in the summer of 1994. MS was diagnosed in June of 1996. I have been very fortunate, so far. I have not been disabled at all, yet. (Knock on wood.)
MS is very unpredictable. No one knows for sure what it will do in the future. Some people recover, although in general the disease will cause progressive disability, sometimes culminating in total paralysis. MS is an effective crippler but it is a slow killer. Most people live 20- 30 years after onset. Most are disabled to some extent.
There is no cure for MS and medical science offers little hope. While some medical treatments can alleviate the symptoms somewhat, they don't do much to stop the disease or reverse its course. That sounded like a pretty grim prospect to me so I began looking for non-medical alternatives. There are quite a few of those. They range from diet, to bee sting therapy, to magnetic devices. Most of these are supported only by anecdotal evidence. I wanted to know what causes this disease and what therapies actually work. I think those questions are on the minds of all MS sufferers.
In my opinion the mainstream medical community should be running surveys like this, but they aren't. The MS survey, though it may be far from perfect, is at least a step in the right direction. It's also a way for MS sufferers to do something positive instead of just waiting for medical science to find a cure.
You might wonder why I think I can find the answers that medical science cannot. The answer to that is simple; I can't, at least not by myself. However, the answer to MS may well lie in the collective experience of those who are afflicted. By pooling our experiences perhaps we can identify common factors which lead to the development of the disease. By the same means we might be able to determine which treatments are effective. The internet provides the perfect medium for doing exactly that. The MS survey is my first attempt at it. If this fails to produce the answers I'll try another. I don't expect the answers to come easily.
With regard to my identity I will tell you this. A friend of mine was diagnosed with MS a few years before I was. When her boss found out she had MS he fired her. (Compassionate b------ wasn't he.) In my case the symptoms are not visible so very few people know I have MS. I prefer to keep it that way. I hope you understand.
The results of the survey will be posted at this site when its completed. For privacy names will not appear in the results.
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