Multiple Sclerosis: In a Nutshell (Nursing)

00:00 So, let's wrap up this video on multiple sclerosis.

00:04 It's a disease where the immune system attacks the myelin sheath or in the cells that produce and maintain the myelin sheath.

00:12 Inflammation and injury to the sheath and the nerve fibers is what leads to the multiple areas of scarring and impaired nerve impulses transmissions.

00:22 So, the most common symptoms of MS is a very long list.

00:26 Look at that.

00:28 But right at the top is fatigue.

00:30 So, remember when your patients have kind of vague symptoms, but you start off with being tired, numbness, tingling, weakness, dizziness, vertigo, sexual problems, pain and itching, emotional changes, the list goes on and on.

00:44 But I can tell you from my experience, I had a friend whose main system-- main symptom was jaw pain.

00:51 And eventually, this was the diagnosis they came up with.

00:54 The key to this is always listen to your patient.

00:58 Keep asking questions and keep pursuing it till you find an answer to this problem.

01:04 So, treatment focuses on speeding recovery from attacks because we can't cure it, right, so we want them to have fewer attacks and to get better quicker from their attacks, because you want to slow the progression of the disease and manage their symptoms.

01:17 Remember some people have mild symptoms and they don't need treatment, like my friend that just had jaw pain, and other people need more complex treatment.

01:25 The most common treatment regimens are a three- to five-day course of high-dose IV corticosteroids, because our goal with them is to reduce the inflammation and end the relapses.

01:37 Thank you for watching our video today.