Can Multiple Sclerosis be a cause of death?

[ms man]

I have been always told by Docs that you don't die of MS.You die with MS.

Yet Annette Fucicello's cause of death is "Multiple Sclerosis complications".

Is that an accurate dyagnosis?

[kelm10]

if you are able read the other thread

The thread is the MS society lying to us. It discuses this issue at great lengths.

[ms man]

The thread is the MS society lying to us. It discuses this issue at great lengths.

I saw that thred but didn't go into it.I will now.

[Jules A]

Oh boy you have asked a great question, brace yourself for the assortment of answers.

[rdmc]

A couple of links if you're interested. Here again we find it comes down to semantics...Is cardiac arrest or respiratory failure from a medullary lesion, death from MS, or just a complication of MS? Sort of "you say potato, and I say potato" for any of you old enough to remember that song Not that any of us control the course or consequences of the disease anyway. ..I hold an Ecclesiasties 3 perspective .

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21586485

http://msj.sagepub.com/content/17/9/1146.abstract

http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=675159

http://multiple-sclerosis-research.b...-sudmus-1.html

[SNOOPY]

Here again we find it comes down to semantics...

I agree and the reason I have chosen to be silent on this thread.

I hold an Ecclesiasties 3 perspective

Yes.

A time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die

Thank you, rdmc. A reminder and a reason to read this section once again.

[ms man]

Oh boy you have asked a great question, brace yourself for the assortment of answers.

I'm braced.

[Mamabug]

I agree; it's a matter of semantics.

For example, it is not unusual for pneumonia to be an illness that leads to death for some with MS. So, pneumonia is listed as the cause of death, not MS.

And, I kind of agree with that. If we can work at remaining as healthy as possible, with MS, then perhaps we won't get pneumonia, and pneumonia won't kill us and neither will MS.

And, when I am old and decrepit, pneumonia wouldn't be a bad way to go. It is often referred to as "the old people's friend", because it releases them when it is their time.

Personally,
I simply hope that I will live out my life,
in as healthy a way as is possible,
until it is my time.
And then,
I hope that I will go peacefully.

The Ecclesiastes quote in earlier posts is very appropriate for this thread.

~ Faith

[Westgrl]

I think there are a lot of diseases out there that cause complications that lead to death. Whether you want to see it as the disease causing the death, a complication, or the actual incident that caused it all depends on how you look at it.

My personal belief is, if you would not have contracted or died from something if it weren't for the disease, then the cause was the disease or a complication of the disease.

[Dsdickinson]

Complications

My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he started chemo in January 2010, his heart gave out March 2010. We think it was from the chemo. His death certificate did not state cancer because that is not what caused his death.

[mjan]

This has intrigued me as well, until I worked in hospice (not a nurse) and had MS patients die.

As you know, with some cases, your muscles atrophy. Your systems start to slow down and fail=failure to thrive. You don't eat as much, or..you can no longer swallow, you continue to lose weight, you tire more and more..as your muscles do not work or lack the strength to..then..more and more slowly..you breath more slowly, until you fall into a coma-like state and pass on.

I got close to one of the hospice MS patients. We had the same Neuro. The Neuro who wasn't sure if I had MS and then finally said no, I did not have it.

This hospice patient had progressive MS for decades before any MS treatments. She was unhappy that her only treatment for so many years was steriods which, according to her, weakened her systems and made her condition worse.

How was I to know? I never told her I had the same doctor. Who by the way is the one who referred her to hospice care. What did he know that said she was about to die..over many months, but still.. I always wondered. But failure to thrive is measurable.

But.. she kept her mind, her wit and spunk about her. But when alone with me, she wanted to go, she wanted very much to die. It was her husband who could not accept her body was failing her once again, but more permanently this time. He changed his whole life to care for her, so he was sure he could keep her alive too. But he became sarcastic and cruel at times, so much that I had to do an intervention. He simply refused to accept that she was dying.

It reminded me of Annette's last years. She could no longer eat, sit up, or speak, her muscles contracted, like my patient.

I often wondered if this was really the way Annette wanted to "live." It was her husband that I noticed who was not ready to let her go.. naturally. He fought and fought to keep her not only comfortable (?) but alive.. for.. HIM!! Well that is how I took it.

Anyone can have failure to thrive.. old folks..who's bodies over the years slow more and more, until you eat less, continue to lose weight, lose strength, sleep more and then pass quietly from "failure to thrive" They used to call this dying from "old age."

Jan

[lusciousleaves]

This is somewhat of an interesting topic. When someone dies of complications from diabetes, they don't put that on the death cert, do they? I've heard of multiple organ failure as the cause of death of one, and MRSA as the cause of death with another, but never "complications of diabetes."

[ladibabe]

Great conversation guys.. the first thing you want to hear when your dx'd with MS is its not fatal. I like many of you disagree.. if you pass from the complications associated with MS you die of MS.

Not to referrence MS with AIDS because I know they are completely different.. if you die from diseases caused by the lack of an immune system which is caused by A.I.D.S you die of A.I.D.S

[Thinkimjob]

I think you're right there, ladibabe. Yes, infection with HIV is the thing that generally leads to AIDS, and you die of complications caused by AIDS (though there are much better treatments now, so it's not inevitable.)

With MS, there's no recognised trigger, so it's MS from the start.

Maybe "complications" is just another word for "things that happen when you have whatever it is you have and it gets worse"

But then no one dies of complications of cancer. Or muscular dystrophy, or a stroke. Maybe they just don't word it way.

Should have worked harder at school and become a doctor.

(O/t you no doubt know what autospell wants to call you, ladibabe)

[teecee123]

MS DEATH

MS IS NOT THE ACTUAL CAUSE OF DEATH IMMOBILITY LEADING TO PNEUMONIA, INFECTION FROM SKIN WOUNDS, LACK OF NUTRITION ETC ULTIMATELY CAUSE OF DEATH BUT THE SAME AS THE ELDERLY, DIABEATIES AND CANCER SO FOLLOW HEALTHY DIET, KEEP MOVING AND SLEEP WELL JUST LIKE WE INFORM THE REST OF THE WORLD MS IS A OBSTICALE NOT A END ALL!