If you smoke, you are more likely than a nonsmoker to develop multiple sclerosis. Scientists don't know why this is true.
Smoking also makes the symptoms of multiple sclerosis worse in people who already have the disease.
just the facts
About 400,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis.
definition
Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects the nervous system's ability to send messages to various parts of the body. This disease can cause difficulty in walking, extreme tiredness, double vision, slurred speech, numbness in various parts of the body, and other problems. Some people with multiple sclerosis can live nearly normal lives much of the time, but others are more severely disabled. Multiple sclerosis is a long-lasting disease; once a person has it, it doesn't go away, although it may get better at some times and worse at others. Multiple sclerosis is not contagious. In most cases, this disease first shows up when a person is between the ages of 20 and 50. About 400,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis.
explanation
Effects of smoking in patients with multiple sclerosis are at least partly due to nicotine -- the drug in tobacco that makes it addictive. Nicotine can interfere with nerve function and disrupt normal communication between the nerves and the muscles. Two other ways in which smoking may make multiple sclerosis symptoms worse are by decreasing blood flow to the brain and by decreasing oxygen levels in the blood. Cigarette smoke has these effects in every smoker's body, but they may be especially undesirable in people who already have a problem with their nervous system.
