I'm not sure if i have it but i have been researching it a little, and im not sure if its life threatening or not. or if it is common to have the symptoms once in a while or have them everyday? mine dont seem to occur everyday, it just seems to happen once in a while.

My mom has MS.. there are a couple forms, and you can transgress from one to another. She has the relapse-remitting type, meaning she'll be hit by "attacks" every now and then. She, then recovers from them, either naturally or with medicine. if you got a positive outlook on life, you're good. My mom never gives up (tough-spirited for a 5'4" woman). still, she has slowly been on the decline as she's aged.

As I said, you can move form one form of MS to another, and some are altogether debilitating, even very life threatening. if you have MS for 10 years, then you're most likely going to keep the same form for life.

Please see professional consultation… there are many differing treatment or prevention methods, all with their pros and cons.

This link describes the major forms and how a person can change through them:

Best regards.

MS has a unique feature….it is said that the symptoms are scattered in time and place
meaning it occurs for a while then disappear
then it happen again then they disappear

for place it means you can have a weak left leg
then a weak right arm
then a blurred right eye
then decreased feeling over the left side of face
and so on
different things
different times
can it be fatal? unfortunately the answer is yes if it afffects the nerve supplying the diaphragm which is the main muscle of breathing or the pharynx muscles preventing food from entering the air passage
the attacks tend to be more in the spring,after stress,pregnancy and after surgical operations

there is some kind of new drug called interferon that can make the attacks more rare and a personal friend of mine used it and she is free of symptoms for the last 2 years

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that affects your central nervous system, which is your brain and your spinal cord. it is believed to be an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks itself. yes it can kill you if you don't treat it. you should see the doctor if you have numbness or tingling for days or weeks and if it spreads to other parts of your body. you should get plenty of rest and exercise and eat healthy for your immune system.

Its shocking that 1 in 4 teens have been diagnosed with an STD. Out of 800,000 CDC/niaid cases world wide 63 million are diagnosed with Gonorrhea. More teens are admitting to be sexually active as well as having multiple partners. It’s time to educate ourselves as well as today’s’ young adults. We need to learn the facts, raise awareness, teach prevention, and offer support to those diagnosed and receiving treatment.

It is a bacteria, Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, that survives and multiplies in the reproductive tract, mouth, throat, eyes and rectum. it affects men, woman and newborns with infected mothers.

The infection is passed from an infected partner by contact with the penis, vagina, mouth or rectum, or through sexual excretions. Though ejaculation doesn’t have to occur for the disease to spread.

Any person is at risk of contracting this infection though rates are higher in sexually active teenagers and young adults under 25. Teens can be informed of prevention methods ranging from the always popular abstinence campaign to remaining monogamous in relationships with uninfected partners. Latex condoms and plastic barriers are also effective.

Once infected the incubation period takes about 1-14 days. within 2-5 days men begin showing mild symptoms usually in the morning. For this reason symptoms can be shrugged off and the infection remains undiagnosed. Symptoms for men include: swollen testicles and prostate, and green, yellow or white discharge from the penis. only 1 in 10 men are asymptomatic.

While such a large percentage of men show symptoms only 1 in 5 woman have mild symptoms if any. of those reported some are: increased vaginal discharge, vaginal bleeding between periods, lower abdominal pain, painful intercourse, vomiting, fever, and the urge to urinate more frequently.

Both males and females experience painful urination. Rectal and oral infections produce different symptoms. Anal itching, discharge, soreness, bleeding and painful bowel movements indicate a rectal infection. only 1 in 10 cases of oral infection produce symptoms. a sore, itching throat are the only warning, though oral infections are rare.

If any of these symptoms are present the person should be checked by a health care professional. especially if pregnant. Pregnant women who suspect they may be infected should consult a medical professional to be tested. She can pass Gonorrhea to her newborn during delivery that can result in blindness, joint infection and a life threatening blood infection.

Several antibiotics cure Gonorrhea once its been detected. The infected individual is usually tested for other STD’s like Chlamydia since these infections are often present at the same time and can be treated together. This is in contrast with the herpes treatment Dynamiclear which is not a permanent cure.

If left untreated can cause life threatening complications. Men can become sterile, and women can develop Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), blocked fallopian tubes, long term pelvic pain and life threatening ectopic pregnancy.

Teens are uneducated and lacking information that could assist them in making better choices. they aren’t seeking proper medical care for infections like Gonorrhea, because they’re unaware of symptoms if any are present. The best way to stop the spread of STD’s is to teach safe sex, monogamy with an uninfected long term partner and abstinence.

1. Why Parents Should Talk to their Teens About STDs
2. Could you Have a Chlamydia Infection?
3. Yeast Infections – what you Should Know
4. Common Mental Health Disorders among Teens
5. What you Should know About Herpes

Las Cruces— the words “preventable” and “cancer” aren’t always seen in the same sentence.

We get frequent reminders of the traditional prevention methods to help counteract cancer and many other illnesses: Eat a healthy diet including lots of fruits in vegetables, exercise and avoid smoking, get regular screenings. Those screenings are important for many types of cancer, but don’t catch abnormal cells until they have already become just that: Cancer.

From 1955 to 1992, cervical cancer was one of the most common causes of cancer death for American women, according to statistics by the American Cancer Society. but since then, death rates have declined by almost 70 percent, due to increased use of the Pap test, a screening that is unique because it can detect changes in the cervix before cancer develops, thus making it the first step in halting the possible progression of abnormal cells into cervical cancer.

“This is one of the few cancers that’s preventable, because the Pap test will help you find it before it’s cancer, as opposed to mammography, which won’t find one you can treat prior to malignancy,” said Gena love, head of the Cancer Prevention and Control Section for the New Mexico Department of Health. Preventing HPV

Love said though there has been a tremendous decrease in mortality in cervical cancer cases, it is still not being caught at 100 percent. in New Mexico, approximately 80 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and about 26 women die from the disease each year, she said. only 3 percent of those cases are the invasive kind of cancer, and the rest are localized, in situ (“in place”) cancers.

Risk factors for cervical cancer include exposure to secondhand smoke and exposure to the human papilloma virus (HPV), a large group of related viruses and the most common sexually transmitted infection that can develop into cervical cancer in women. because being exposed to HPV can happen very soon after one becomes sexually active (according to the American Cancer Society, almost half of HPV infections are found in people between the ages of 15 and 25, and one-half to three-fourths of sexually active people will have the virus at some point in their lives), the HPV vaccine is recommended for young girls before they ever get exposed to that virus, love said. HPV can live inside the body for up to several years without symptoms, she said, and the body can clear the virus on its own, so some people may never even know they were exposed to the virus and may clear it without harm. but for others, it can develop into cancer.

“The body, for the most part, is able to deal with that virus, but it can progress into invasive cervical cancer,” love said. “Why some people can clear that virus without problems and others don’t is hard to pin down.”

More than 99 percent of cervical cancers are caused by HPV, and 70 percent of those are caused by HPV types 16 and 18, which can be prevented by taking the vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix.

Love suggests following the Centers for Disease Control guidelines, which recommend that girls ages 11 to 12 get vaccinated. Women from ages 13 up to 26 can also be protected by taking it. Girls as young as age 9 are able to take it, she said.

“The vaccine seems to be very promising in preventing the acquisition of that virus in young girls,” she said.

However, the vaccines don’t protect against all of the strains that can become cancerous cells.

“One of the messages we want to get out there is it only protects for certain types of HPV,” love said. “Even if you are protected against the most common types, you are not protected against all of them, so you still need to get Pap tests.” How often should women get screened?

Love said it is difficult to say how often women should get Pap tests and at what age they should begin getting tested, because test frequency is based on age, the type of test and previous results. Generally it is recommended that women start at age 21 or within three years of the first time they have sex, and every other year after that for the first 60 months. no matter what the frequency is, it’s important that women keep getting regular Pap tests and converse with their doctor about how often to do it and when to stop, she said. Unless told by their doctor that it is OK to discontinue getting tested, women should continue up until age 65 or the cervix is removed, she said. though the test may not be the most comfortable experience or something women look forward to, she said, it’s one of the most effective and low-risk.

“It is one of the most reliable and effective cancer screening tests available,” love said. “We don’t want to suggest that screening is easy – no one really likes to have it – yet compared to others, it’s relatively painless, quick, inexpensive and sensitive. if you’ve got abnormal cells, it’s very likely to find them.”

And with regular screenings, cervical cancer can be caught early, which is beneficial because the cancer has few symptoms and can be difficult to detect without a Pap test. though it is preventable, if it goes too long before it’s detected, it can be harder to treat.

“It is a very slow-growing disease from the time abnormal cells might be seen on a Pap test to cervical cancer might be a decade or more,” love said. Treatment

For localized cancers that are caught early, treatment may just be limited to the cervix, and cells are removed off of the surface, love said. if the cancer is invasive, more extensive surgery might be required, and if the disease has metastasized to other areas of the body, regional treatments like radiation and chemotherapy will be needed. the sooner the cancer is caught, the more likely it will be easy to treat. if it’s local, the average woman has an 88 percent chance of curing the cancer and surviving. if it spreads regionally, that five-year survival rate drops down to 52 percent. if the cancer becomes distantly spread, the survival rate decreases further lower to 18 percent, she said.

Love stressed that the most important prevention method is getting regular Pap tests.

“There are more women dying of other types of cancer than the 26 (women who die of cervical cancer each year in New Mexico), yet the tragedy is that those deaths could have been prevented,” she said. “A lot of people die from cancer that couldn’t be prevented but this is one that we could have saved those lives. This is one cancer that women don’t have to die from.” Get screened

The Department of Health has breast and cervical cancer early detection programs, and offers both free Pap tests and breast screenings to women who meet specific criteria. To receive free testing, women must be 30 or older, uninsured or underinsured, and at or below the federal poverty line. For more information, visit the New Mexico Department of Health Cancer Prevention and Control website, cancernm.org/bcc, or call the toll-free number: (877) 852-2585. Did you know…

In the U.S.:

About 12, 200 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed, and about

4, 210 women will die from cervical cancer in 2010.

In New Mexico:

Approximately 80 women are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer each year

Approximately 26 women die from the disease each year

Most cancers are localized, in situ, non-invasive tumors that have not penetrated other tissues. Three percent of all new cancer cases in the state are the invasive form of cervical cancer.

Almost two-thirds of the women diagnosed are under the age of 55, but mortality is more likely to occur in older women: two-thirds of the deaths from cervical cancer are of women age 55 and older. Freelance writer Sara Cobble can be reached at .

RALEIGH — North Carolina health leaders say new research into medications that might prevent the spread of HIV with a daily pill could herald a new era in preventing HIV infections, but regular testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remains the best and most effective way to stop the spread in our state. in 2009, a total of 1,710 new HIV cases were reported in North Carolina. Preliminary estimates indicate at least the same number of new cases is expected for 2010.

In North Carolina, one in 268 people is infected with HIV disease. this number includes those who may not be aware that they are infected.

?The research into HIV prevention is groundbreaking,? State Health Director Jeff Engel said. ?The medication was tested in specific high-risk populations and it is effective when used along with regular testing, the use of condoms and other prevention methods. until more studies are done, we encourage anyone who is sexually active to learn their HIV and STD status so they can take steps to protect their own health and the health of their partner.?

In recognition of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, several health departments and community based organizations are offering free HIV/STD testing events. For a list of ongoing testing opportunities, visit epi.state.nc.us/epi/hiv/

New data from 2010 also shows that syphilis numbers are on the decline. Statewide, a total of 561 cases of early (infectious) syphilis were reported in the state for the first nine months of 2010, slightly lower than the same time last year. however, several counties continue to see high numbers of new cases. in Cumberland, Pitt and Robeson counties, the number of syphilis cases from January 2010 through September 2010 was at least double the number in the same time period in 2009.

From January to September 2010, over 45,000 cases of gonorrhea and chlamydia were reported statewide.

?Testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases is available across the state at local health departments and other health centers,? North Carolina AIDS Director Jacquelyn Clymore said. ?Responding to possible symptoms and going to the doctor earlier, rather than later, ensures that patients will get the treatment and advice they need.?

During 2010, Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. General Assembly provided $14 million in the state budget to provide access to lifesaving medications for HIV patients through the state?s AIDS Drug assistance Program (ADAP).

The most recent case statistics on syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV and AIDS incidence rates in North Carolina are available at the N.C. Division of Public Health?s Communicable Disease branch at epi.state.nc.us/epi/hiv/stats.html