Smoking and Multiple Sclerosis

Smoking and Multiple Sclerosis Patients will be at a  higher risk for the brain lesions linked with the disease and for brain shrinkage according to a new research.

It is just this simple, persons with multiple sclerosis who smoke risk increasing the amount of brain tissue shrinkage, all ready a consequence of MS.

New research conducted at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) at the University at Buffalo has shown that smoking increases the severity of MS.

“Our study is showing that MS is more destructive as seen on MRI in smokers than nonsmokers.  The study appears in the Aug. 18 issue of Neurology,” said study co-author Dr. Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, director of the Baird MS Center and Pediatric MS Center of Excellence at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Smoking and Multiple Sclerosis…Research has already shown that smoking boosts the risk of getting MS, but the effect of smoking after diagnosis has not been studied as much and that is where this new study comes in.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society…Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system, including the spinal cord, brain and optic nerve. This disease affects about 400,000 Americans.

Mild symptoms are limb numbness and severe symptoms involves the loss of vision or paralysis. The different courses that MS can take include relapsing and remitting, progressive, or progressive and relapsing.

So, the smart thing to do…to lower this risk of brain shrinkage, is to stop smoking. With MS, perhaps it would be wise not to take harmful chemicals or nicotine and it would be better to take an all natural cure to stop smoking.

For those of you who do not have MS…remember that smoking increases the risk of you getting MS. So, stop smoking.

To learn more about multiple sclerosis, visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Smoking and Multiple Sclerosis will be hazardous to you health. To learn more about Weinstock-Guttman and her colleagues research, go to ScienceDaily.com.