Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks myelin, the fatty substance that surrounds and protects the nerve fibers in the central nervous system. When the myelin is damaged, the nerve impulses are not transmitted as quickly or efficiently, resulting in symptoms such as numbness in the limbs, fatigue, dizziness, paralysis and/or loss of vision.

Symptoms of MS will often improve and relapse with time and vary from one person to another. In progressive forms of multiple sclerosis, they gradually worsen.

MS affects approximately 400,000 Americans (1 in 1,000) but is much more common in the Northwest where approximately 12,000 (2 in 1,000) people have MS.  Some likely factors that contribute to this may be vitamin D deficiency, genetic predisposition and environmental triggers. Other factors are still unknown. Additionally, women are twice as likely as men to be affected by MS.