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http://www.news.com.au/entertainment...06050,00.html#

Short circuit

By Linda Drummond
June 03, 2007 12:00am

WHAT happens when the link between the body and the brain gets mixed up? Ask someone living with MS.
Imagine living with a condition where your brain tries to tell your body to make a move, but the message just doesn't get through.
You might want to walk across the room, know that you have to lift yourself up out of your chair and put one foot in front of the other, but your feet are only hearing a muted, garbled demand - or nothing at all.
Sometimes this can be combined with numbness or the sensation of pins and needles, unrelenting fatigue, an inability to regulate your body temperature, disruption of balance - and permanent or occasional paralysis or sight loss.
This is the uncertainty of living with multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease that affects more than 16,000 Australians directly, but which impacts on many thousands more family members, co-workers and friends.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease. It affects different people in a number of ways and there's no way of knowing when to expect an episode - or how severe it's going to be.
Currently, there's no cure or specific treatment, but Australian researchers are at the forefront of unravelling the mysteries of the disease.
Jeremy Wright, executive director of Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia (MSRA), says we're getting closer each day to understanding this complicated disease.
And that can't come too soon; multiple sclerosis is affecting an extra seven per cent of people in Australia per year.
The reasons some people develop MS and others don't haven't yet been uncovered, but it's thought a number of factors come into play.
Gender is one, with three times as many women diagnosed as men. Genetics is another, and environmental issues such as viruses, trauma and heavy metals are also thought to play a role.
One potential trigger is the source of a long-term Australian study. The Ausimmune Study is researching the role that vitamin D levels may have on the development of MS.
"Sunlight is the best form of vitamin D," says Wright. "The incidence of MS increases by about eight times from northern Queensland to Tasmania. It's because of the amount of sunlight - not the temperature of these areas."
That's why Australia is the perfect place to study the potential impact of vitamin D - we've got a wide range in latitude, a relatively standard healthcare system and less variables in population than other countries where studies into the link between MS and vitamin D are taking place.
"People have known about the variations in latitude since the 1900s," says Dr Robyn Lucas, research fellow and study coordinator for the Ausimmune Study.
The Menzies Centre for Population Health Research at the University of Tasmania has found MS is more common at latitudes which generally have lower levels of UV radiation.
"Insufficient ultraviolet radiation or vitamin D, or both, may influence the development of multiple sclerosis," says Professor Terry Dwyer, director of the Menzies Centre.
Dr Lucas adds that this could be one reason why three times more women develop MS than men.
"Women tend to have lower vitamin D levels than men. Men tend to go out in the sun more, while women tend to cover up and use more sunscreen."
However, researchers also acknowledge the importance of being sun-safe.
The research is costly and ongoing, which is why there is so much emphasis on raising funds to help find a cure.
For Lina Marrocco, from Camberwell in Victoria, being diagnosed with MS meant shifting the focus of her fundraising efforts by founding the organisation, Charityworks for MS.
"One of the ways that I deal with this disease is knowing that I can make a difference. At least I can do something to help in a strict fundraising sense," Marrocco says.
"In 10 years of fundraising, I've helped raise something like $650,000. It's all about turning a negative into a positive."
Living with MS can be frustrating, as Fiona Hall, 53, from Sydney's Newtown, can attest. After being diagnosed with MS at the age of 27, Hall has been living with the disease for almost half her life.
But she hasn't let MS hold her back; not only does she work part-time as a sales manager in a small business, she has undertaken a number of trips to Antarctica, where she has taken some stunning photographs.
The results of her work will be exhibited in July at Melbourne's Federation Square, under the title, On Shaky Ground - An Antarctic Episode, with funds raised going toward MS research.
You can't often tell who has MS; many young people with the disease appear totally normal if their symptoms are mild.
"MS has a young face," Lucas says. "The peak diagnosis age is 31 or 32."
The disease isn't a life sentence. "It won't necessarily shorten your life expectancy," she adds.
But people with MS need to deal with episodes such as fatigue, balance problems, sight impairment, cognitive ability and extreme pins and needles. Speech problems can also arise.
"Sometimes I sound like I'm drunk at 10am," says Hall.
While there are medications that can help deal with the symptoms, "Different treatments work better on different people," Wright says.
But keeping healthy can help improve your standard of living, as Hall can attest.
"I generally follow a low-GI diet to help keep my energy levels up and eat healthily. I also use supplements such as fish oils and spirulina."
According to the MS Society of Australia website, exercise is beneficial for people with MS.
A 1996 study from the University of Utah revealed the benefits of aerobic exercise for people with MS were improved cardiovascular fitness and strength, better bladder and bowel function, less fatigue and depression and a more positive attitude.