Cognition and Behavior in Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

This volume describes the effects and consequences of multiple sclerosis (MS) on cognition. Authors summarize the impact of MS on behavioral problems, daily living, and related neuropsychiatric disorders, and offer clinical guidance for practitioners.




Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

When attorney Jeffrey N. Gingold misplaced his wife on the living room couch and lost awareness of his children, little did he know that he was experiencing a hidden symptom of multiple sclerosis: cognitive difficulties. How do you handle getting lost, while driving just blocks from your home? Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis is a courageous and compelling personal account of one man's anguishing struggle with this aspect of the disease. It is written for the silent majority of MS patients who are privately dealing with MS cognitive symptoms and potential disabilities. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society estimates that over 400,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and there are millions more worldwide. Conservatively speaking, half of them will encounter varying degrees of cognitive difficulties. Facing the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis brings this hidden disability into the open. It is an essential resource that will educate individuals coping with multiple sclerosis, and inform their families, caregivers, doctors and therapists. This new edition has been revised with on-point cognitive strategies and updated MS resources. The book includes a new foreword written by Dr. Dawn Langdon of the UK MS Trust and four completely new chapters that follow Jeffrey's journey since 2006. He openly explores some MS physical symptoms, which may accompany the thinking impediments that strike at his cognitive awareness and functions. Jeffrey carves a path of finding physical and cognitive wellness, as well as weighing the need to accept beneficial MS medical therapies. Not only did he become more active in the movement to cure MS, the progression of his MS led to a more controversial MS treatment, in effort to make his disease manageable. Jeffrey also shares the benefits of introducing a Ïsafety personÓ into a life with MS and the strength gained from helping others, even while they may be assisting you. Whether or not a person is dealing with the cognitive issues associated with multiple sclerosis this book deserves to be on the bookshelf of every individual who is dealing with multiple sclerosis.




Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

Dear Readers, If you are engaged in the treatment of patients with MS (pwMS), this e-book’s aim is to offer novel insights to improve on an understanding of one of the major problems of pwMS: fatigue. Although there is increasing research into fatigue and its impact on MS, this collection of ten articles supports a better understanding of fatigue in MS patients. It explores pathophysiological concepts, provoking mechanisms, objective measurements, personality interactions, pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions and summarizes clinical management. It is written by neurologists, psychologists, scientists and therapists and addresses this group of people, who deal with pwMS in private, clinical, rehabilitation or scientific settings. Its aim is to communicate high-quality information, knowledge and experience on MS to healthcare professionals, while providing global support for the international MS community.




Case Studies in Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

This handbook is a collection of clinical narratives that underscore the heterogeneous and unpredictable presentation of multiple sclerosis (MS) and give real-world clinical context to recent drug developments. This accessible and concise publication is intended to be used by a wide range of medical professionals, from specialist neurologists to medical trainees with an interest in neurology. An ideal clinical resource, Case Studies in Multiple Sclerosis provides an evidence-based discussion of each case, with an aim to enhance effective diagnosis and treatment of patients with MS and MS-related conditions.




Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

Multiple Sclerosis: The Questions You Have, The Answers You Need, 5th Edition is the definitive guide for everyone concerned with the disease - those who have MS and those who share their lives with someone who has it. It covers a wide range of topics in an accessible question and answer format that allows people to easily find the information they need while providing a model of successful communication with healthcare providers. The contributors are leading authorities in all areas of multiple sclerosis management, who proffer expert answers to the most common questions about living with MS-medical, emotional, social, and economic - and represents a interdisciplinary approach to the disease. The book's goal is to help those living with MS live the lives they aspire to lead. The chapters cover everything from treatment to emotional, sexual, and employment issues. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout. The book provides the most current information on multiple sclerosis including a review of the controversy surrounding CCVSI, discussion of the first two pills in development for the disease, new information on the drug Tysabri, emotional issues, and the family. The thoroughly revised and updated fifth edition of the classic Multiple Sclerosis: The Questions You Have, The Answers You Need answers even more of your questions about how to live and thrive with MS. What are the current drug therapies for MS? What about alternative medicine? Should I exercise? How common is depression with MS?




Neuropsychological Assessment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders


Book Description

A 1996 survey of the members of the American Board of Professional Psychology Diplomates, published by The Clinical Neuropsychologist journal, selected the first edition of this book as one of the "Essential Books and Journals in North American Clinical Neuropsychology"--a list which included only 10 other titles! The Second Edition has improved further on this high standard. While the authors have retained the same general structure--with the addition of a set of three chapters on psychosocial outcomes--virtually the entire book has been rewritten and thoroughly updated to reflect recent developments in this area of knowledge. Part I features new chapters on the Iowa-Benton approach, on cognitive screening methods, and on computers and memory. Part II has been expanded with new chapters on Tourette's syndrome, acute and chronic hypoxemia, HIV infection, schizophrenia, Huntington's disease, and an expanded chapter on Parkinson's disease. Part III is entirely new, and it focuses on life quality outcome in head injury and pulmonary disease. Considerably enlarged in size, this book will remain the basic reference on the neuropsychological aspects of diseases affecting brain and behavior.




Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and often disabling disease of the nervous system, affecting about 1 million people worldwide. Even though it has been known for over a hundred years, no cause or cure has yet been discovered-but now there is hope. New therapies have been shown to slow the disease progress in some patients, and the pace of discoveries about the cellular machinery of the brain and spinal cord has accelerated. This book presents a comprehensive overview of multiple sclerosis today, as researchers seek to understand its processes, develop therapies that will slow or halt the disease and perhaps repair damage, offer relief for specific symptoms, and improve the abilities of MS patients to function in their daily lives. The panel reviews existing knowledge and identifies key research questions, focusing on: Research strategies that have the greatest potential to understand the biological mechanisms of recovery and to translate findings into specific strategies for therapy. How people adapt to MS and the research needed to improve the lives of people with MS. Management of disease symptoms (cognitive impairment, depression, spasticity, vision problems, and others). The committee also discusses ways to build and financially support the MS research enterprise, including a look at challenges inherent in designing clinical trials. This book will be important to MS researchers, research funders, health care advocates for MS research and treatment, and interested patients and their families.




Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

Education about multiple sclerosis has traditionally been medically oriented and related to disease and dysfunction. In contrast, this brand-new second edition of the Guide continues to focus on staying well in the presence of MS, a disease that - while incurable - can be managed. The book covers a broad spectrum of topics related to MS and its effects, focusing especially on the needs of those who have been living with the disease for some time. Practical tips on self-care are designed to promote maximum independence, well-being, and productivity. The theme of the book - wellness - can be described by the acronym: Weighing options; Eating well; Living to your fullest; Learning new skills; Needing others; Evaluating situations realistically; Surviving stress; and Staying responsible. Contributors to the book are professionals who have a specialty or a special interest in MS. Their suggestions, advice, and strategies come from years of experience in the field. It is their hope that readers will come away with fresh ideas on how to cope with the ever-changing challenges of MS.




Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis


Book Description

"Why are there no effective treatments for my condition? Why do researchers exclude patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis from enrolling in clinical trials? Please let me know if you hear of studies that I might be allowed to enter or treatments that I could try for my condition. " Thus, in recent years, the sad lament of the patient with primary progressive MS (PPMS). This variant, often in the guise of a chronic progressive myelopathy or, less commonly, progressive cerebellar or bulbar dysfunction, usually responds poorly to corticosteroids and rarely seems to benefit to a significant degree from intensive immunosuppressive treatments. In recent years, most randomized clin ical trials have excluded PPMS patients on two counts. Clinical worsening devel ops slowly in PPMS and may not be recognized during the course of a 2-or 3-year trial even in untreated control patients. This factor alone adds to the potential for a type 2 error or, at the very least, inflates the sample size and duration of the trial. In addition, there is mounting evidence that progressive axonal degeneration and neuronal loss (rather than active, recurrent inflammation) may be important components of the pathology in this form of the disease. Although contemporary trials are evaluating whether PPMS patients may benefit from treatment with the ~-interferons and glatiramer acetate, preliminary, uncontrolled clinical experi ence suggests that the results may not be dramatic.




Mild Cognitive Impairment


Book Description

What are the boundary zones between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD)? Are many elderly people whom we regard as normal actually in the early stages of AD? Alzheimer's disease does not develop overnight; the early phases may last for years or even decades. Recently, clinical investigators have identified a transitional condition between normal aging and and very early Alzheimer's disease that they have called mild cognitive impairment, or MCI. This term typically refers to memory impairment beyond what one would expect in individuals of a given age whose other abilities to function in daily life are well preserved. Persons who meet the criteria for mild cognitive impairment have an increased risk of progressing to Alzheimer's disease in the near future. Though many questions about this condition and its underlying neuropathology remain open, full clinical trials are currently underway worldwide aimed at preventing the progression from MCI to Alzheimer's disease. This book addresses the spectrum of issues involved in mild cognitive impairment, and includes chapters on clinical studies, neuropsychology, neuroimaging, neuropathology, biological markers, diagnostic approaches, and treatment. It is intended for clinicians, researchers, and students interested in aging and cognition, among them neurologists, psychiatrists, geriatricians, clinical psychologists, and neuropsychologists.