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A large-scale study of anxiety and depression in people with MS



Summary: This large, new study from the UK has used responses gained via the web portal of the UK MS Register to investigate the depression and anxiety profiles of people with MS, and to determine if anxiety and depression are linked to stage of disease or other demographic factors. In the 4178 respondents, anxiety and depression rates were extremely high, with over half of patients scoring highly on anxiety and depression clinical rating scales.

Women with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) were more anxious than men with RRMS and women with other MS subtypes. Patients with secondary progressive MS suffered most from depression. The outcomes from studies of this type continue to shed light the extent of mental health problems in patients with MS and will highlight the need for better mental health care of patients.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/2304

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Hi there! Well, I just read a few different studies in reference to anxiety and depression being connected to multiple sclerosis via vitamin D defeciency at the moderate to severe level. There is a wide array of ms- related issues we face related to this vitamin alone!

I think it would need to be base-lined against people with other incurable diseases that progressively worsen. And I would also be suspicious of the voluntary nature (ie random population) of a web study. Is it a case of a "squeaky hinge", or would depressed people be less likely to bother.

hi, all,
in an article that i read, it specified that persons with more lesions in the brain had more severe depression than persons with more lesions in the spinal cord.
elyse

people with fatigue will score moderately high in the beck depression index just as people with depression will score moderately high in the fatigue index
it is not completely easy to distinguish the two

I completely agree Cece. My neuro's registrar kept asking me to do the beck depression index but after about 3 visits I refused - I felt the questions would be skewed for those of us with MS with high levels of fatigue.

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Concussus Resurgo
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RR-MS dx 1998 and Coeliac dx 2003
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Copaxone, Cymbalta. EPO, Fish Oils, Vitamin D3 2000 IU daily, Cal/Mag/Zinc, Multivitamin/mineral, Co-Enzyme Q10, Probiotics, Milk Thistle.