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| Diagnosing MS in Children |
The majority of youngsters with MS, however, are between the ages of 10 and 17. This post is for mothers and fathers who are facing the added challenges of parenting a child with a chronic, unpredictable illness, particularly one that is generally considered by medical professionals, educators, insurance companies, and the general public to be a disease of adults.
The most important thing for you to know is that you are not alone, and that there are resources available to help you along the way. The National MS Society (USA) and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada have joined in the creation of Young Persons with MS:A Network for Families with a Child or Teen with MS. In addition to providing you with the most up-to-date information about MS, the Network can also connect you with other parents, refer you to knowledgeable healthcare professionals, provide assistance with school and social issues, and help you develop plans and strategies for the future. You can contact the Network (in the U.S. by calling 1-866-KIDS W MS or emailing childhoodms@nmss.org, or in Canada by calling 1-866-922-6065) to request copies of Kids Get MS Too: A Guide for Parents Whose Child or Teen Has MS and an activity booklet for children entitled Mighty Special Kids.
As you read about MS in this blog and elsewhere, keep in mind that each person's MS is different; your child's MS will not be exactly like anyone else's. This can be very reassuring for those people whose image of the disease is a severely disabled person limited options. It can also be frustrating and frightening for those who want and need to know what to expect, what to plan for and what to do. The fact is that is some people with MS develop one or two symptoms while others develop quite a few.
Some become severly disabled, but most do not. Children with MS can grow up to lead full, productive, and enjoyable lives. Your challenge as parents is to learn how to live with the unpredictability of the disease, and to help your child navigate the ordinary of childhood and the teen years, sometimes complicated by the ups and downs of MS. Your goal, as it always has been, will be to help your child become an independent, confident adult - and learning how to manage his or her MS will be an important part of that process.
You can contact your local chapter of the National MS Society (800-FIGHT-MS) for additional materials or visit the National MS website at www.nationalmssociety.org.
What We Know about MS in Children
WHILE A COMPREHENSIVE overview of multiple sclerosis (MS) is beyond the scope of this chapter, there are certain issues relating to the diagnosis and management of the disease in children that are particularly important for parents to know.
Diagnosing MS in Children and Teens
FIRST ARE THE special challenges related to making an MS diagnosis. The accepted criteria for diagnosing MS require that the physician be able to find evidence of at least two separate and distinct neurologic events (attacks), that occurred at least one month apart in different areas of the central nervous system (brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord). In addition, the doctor cannot make the diagnosis without first ruling out all other possible explanations for the attacks and related symptoms.
When the physician sees a youngster who has experienced an episode of neurologic symptoms, he or she must try to determine if these symptoms are a one-time event (referred to as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis - ADEM), which requires no ongoing treatment, or the initial episode of what will subsequently turn out to be MS. If it is MS, the doctor will want to begin treatment as soon as possible.
Since ADEM is known to occur in children (most commonly following a viral illness), making the diagnosis can be difficult. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that the symptoms can be similar and some physicians think that symptoms of ADEM can actually recur. More research about ADEM is needed in order to clarify this issue. In the meantime, this means that parents may get different opinions about their child's diagnosis from different doctors, and it may take some time to arrive at a definitive answer. To find out more, you can check out Diagnosing MS in Children.