Doctors told us it was not Fatal.
When my father was first diagnosed at age 50, his symptoms were mild. His balance was off a bit. We thought he needed glasses. My first question was "is this disease fatal?". My family was told no, it was managable, but could get worse over the years. Within 6 months Dad was in a wheelchair, in one year he was bedridden, incontinent, no bowel or muscle control, and could not swallow or talk. Despite every treatment and physical therapy known to man. We went everywhere, Mayo Clinic, you name it.
My Dad died at age 51 as his lungs and diaphragm stopped working, there was no muscle control to maintain breathing so without a permanent ventilator and feeding tubes my father could not live. Soon after being bedridden secondary problems developed and his kidneys and other organs shut down one by one.
So the bottom line is that SEVERE, AGRESSIVE MS can be fatal. What is ironic is I have had several talks with doctors since my Dad's death and was told it was NOT FATAL! Well my father is still quite deceased. It seems even the doctors do not have a clue and are still guessing about this disease. Some have told me I have a 1/4 chance or receiving the gene for it, others say that is still unknown. I noticed even on this site, there is no mention that this can be a short term fatal disease.
Not to scare anyone, just giving the facts, first hand, it can be fatal in a very short amount of time.
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