BY DONYA CURRIE
Amy Talmadge first noticed some leg weakness and dizziness. Berna Shetti was suddenly having trouble with balance. Robin Wood had numbness in her feet she first attributed to a pinched nerve.
For all three Fredericksburg-area women, those were signs of multiple sclerosis, a condition that affects up to 400,000 Americans.
The disease is so varied in intensity and severity, a saying in the medical community is: If you’ve seen one case of MS, you’ve seen one case of MS.
“Sometimes the disease progresses so fast and you have to throw everything at it. In others, you wonder, do you even need to treat it,” said Dr. Amandeep Sangha, a local neurologist who treats patients with MS. “Just following things as they go along and taking things as they come is the key here.”
MS is caused by damage to a person’s nerve fibers, brain, spinal cord and myelin—the layer of insulation around our nerves—but scientists aren’t clear on how that damage occurs.
The disease can cluster in families or strike randomly. The condition is most commonly diagnosed in women in their 20s and 30s.
For someone living with the disease, “every day is a new day,” said Talmadge, 44, a part-time teacher and Spotsylvania County mother of two. She has more fatigue as the years pass and takes medication to keep progression to a minimum.
“You never know with MS how it’s going to affect you. I guess life is an adventure,” Talmadge said.
She said she can’t spend time worrying about MS “because I have now a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old and spend a lot of time following them around and transporting them. You know, mom’s taxi. I’m not ready to give in to this.”
COPING WITH SYMPTOMS
Like Talmadge, Shetti leads an active life despite the challenges of MS.
Shetti, of Spotsylvania County, was diagnosed eight years ago and said she can feel the disease progressing. She copes with symptoms day by day. Her car has hand controls and a ramp allowing her to drive her wheelchair into the car and sit behind the wheel.
“And sometimes I don’t even realize I’m in a wheelchair because I’m too busy with other things,” said the mother of two, who also shares her home with a menagerie of pets including a dog, a hamster, a turtle and 10 ducks.
“I live my life and, you know, I’m fine,” Shetti said. “The only thing I asked the doctor when he diagnosed me was if it was fatal or not, and he said no. So I said, ‘I’m good.’”
Wood, of Fredericksburg, uses humor to help cope with the disease, which for her means she has good and bad days; walks with the help of a cane; and sometimes struggles with short-term memory problems.
“I make fun of this thing and just suck it up,” she said. “I know of things that could be much worse.”
‘MUCH, MUCH BETTER’
The prognosis for people diagnosed with MS is far better than just a few decades ago, when medical science could offer few treatments and the typical patient would become disabled and then die prematurely.
“Now, the longevity and the disability progression related to the disease is much, much better,” said Sangha, the neurologist.
Current treatments include infusions, like the drug Tysabri that Wood receives monthly via IV at Mary Washington Hospital’s infusion clinic. Other options include injections, and, most recently, pills to suppress disease relapse.
Doctors recommend people with MS be treated by a care team including a neurologist, a neuropsychologist, perhaps a urologist and also a physical therapist and mental health counselor. Such a “multi-specialty approach” is important because MS is such a diverse disease, Sangha said.
Some patients find relief from exercise. Local certified personal trainer Sue Dzurenda works with many clients with MS. She says there is no typical workout.
“Every day is different,” she said. “Some days we can do overhead throwing, some days we can do great shoulder work. Sometimes their shoulders are so locked up that they can hardly move their arms.”
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