Sclerosis

By JAN HOGAN

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Jerry Schefcik woke up one morning in 1994 to discover he was blind in one eye.

Then the side of his face went numb.

Within six months he was in a wheelchair.

Schefcik, director of the art gallery at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

MS can come on slowly or strike without warning. It often leaves its victims with overwhelming fatigue, loss of coordination, muscle weakness, spasticity, numbness, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing and visual problems.

Between 60 and 75 percent of MS victims experience reasoning problems and short-term memory loss. Acute symptoms include paralysis, muscle cramps, bladder or bowel problems and sexual dysfunction. Difficulties can last for weeks or months, then disappear just as mysteriously -- until they strike again.

The disease causes the body's immune system to attack brain tissue (myelin) that covers and protects nerve fibers. When MS destroys it, nerve communication suffers. Even when a person is in between episodes, these brain cells are still under attack and further damage occurs.

In the United States, more than 350,000 people are afflicted with MS. It strikes the well-known (Lola Falana, Montel Williams, Annette Funicello), as well as everyday citizens.

MS often affects women between the ages of 30 and 50. A clinical diagnosis of MS may take years, and diagnostic tests such as MRI's evoked response potentials, spinal taps and others may be used to make a diagnosis.

Interferon drugs (called ABC drugs due to their pharmaceutical names, Avonex, Betaseron and Copaxil) show positive results in slowing the progression of the disease and increasing the time between episodes. However, about two-thirds of users report such strong side effects they stop taking the drugs.

Dr. Gerald Dunn, a Las Vegas neurologist, treats about 250 MS patients with steroids, claiming brain scans show the treatment prevents more brain damage.

"I tried the ABC drugs, but it's hard to keep people on them," he said. "I use (intravenous steroids) because it works. Perhaps I'm a bit of a renegade."

Schefcik is one of the 25-30 percent of those stricken with MS who needs a wheelchair. In his case, MS caused him to move into a more accessible one-story home and purchase a $5,000 wheelchair. He uses the Citizen Area Transit's Paratransit unit to get to work.

Schefcik said he was doing well on the steroid treatment, but his insurance stopped covering it.

"Thankfully, my sight has come back," he said. "That's the last thing I want to lose."

For more information, call the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation at (800) 441-7055 or e-mail at support@msfacts.org.