People with Multiple Sclerosis Condition, Challenges and Care

Multiple sclerosis is a serious, disabling, progressive and incurable neurological condition with a reputation for generating unemployment, poverty, social isolation and early death. This book explores whether this portrait is more hyperbole than reality. It offers explanations for the socio-economic and geographical characteristics of multiple sclerosis in the UK. Importantly, it also compares the care services people with multiple sclerosis need, with the services they actually receive, referring to a number of often controversial aspects of their care. This includes the use of expensive disease modifying therapies, complementary and alternative medicines, travel to far-away clinics for dubious surgical procedures, and informal care giving.
 
People with Multiple Sclerosis demonstrates that the research undertaken to date on the lives of people with multiple sclerosis is limited in quantity and quality. It will be of interest for scholars of health and neurological diseases, as well as healthcare professionals and charity workers involved in the care of people with multiple sclerosis.

Paul Bull was a Geography Lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. Progressive multiple sclerosis forced him into retirement in 1999. He has since been a volunteer for a number of charities, most recently as Chairman of the Colchester branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

1. Introduction

2. Multiple Sclerosis: A Brief Overview of the Illness

3. Research on People with MS: Definitions, Data Sources and Methodologies

4. What Type of Person Suffers from MS?

5. How Many People Have MS: A Case Study of the UK?

6. The Impact of MS

7. The Care of People with MS

8. Conclusion