Because some axons are spared, symptoms are different in each patient. The
absence of the myelin causes impulses to jump or not transmit at all. MS patients
can live a normal life span. At times patients don’t experience symptoms and
other times symptoms can become severe and debilitating. These patients are
said to have relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Other patients have no peri-
ods of remission.
There is no cure for MS. However, the disease is treated symptomatically
using several medications.
Corticosteroids
These are used for treating periods when the patient experiences symptoms of
MS (exacerbations). These are also known as attacks, relapses and flare-ups.
Interferonß-1B (betaseron) and interferonß-1a (avonex)
These are used to reduce the frequency and severity of relapses.
Copolymer 1
This drug is in clinical trials and appears to decrease the disease’s activity.
Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection)
This drug reduces new brain lesions and the frequency of relapses in people with
relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia common in older people that affects
the patient’s ability to carry out daily activities. Part of the patient’s brain that
controls thought, memory, and language becomes impaired.
Four and a half million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease affects 5% of people between 65 and 74 years of age
and half of those older than 85 years. Alzheimer’s disease is not part of the
aging process.
Although the cause of Alzheimer’s disease remains unknown, investigators
have discovered Alzheimer’s patients have abnormal clumps of amyloid plaques
and tangled bundles of fibers called neurofibrillary tangles in parts of their brain.
CHAPTER 15 Nervous System Drugs^291