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Curing MS: How Science Is Solving the Mysteries of Multiple Sclerosis
What causes multiple sclerosis? When will there be a cure?
Dr. Howard Weiner has spent nearly three decades trying to find answers to the mysteries of multiple sclerosis, an utterly confounding and devastating disease that afflicts almost half a million Americans. Curing MS is his moving, personal account of the long-term scientific quest to pinpoint the origins of the disease and to find a breakthrough treatment for its victims.
Dr. Weiner is at the cutting edge of MS research and drug development, and he describes in clear and illuminating detail the science behind the symptoms and how new drugs may hold the key to “taming the monster.” In Curing MS , Dr. Weiner teaches us the “Twenty-one Points” of MS, a concise breakdown of the knowns and unknowns of the disease; tells stories from the frontlines of laboratories and hospitals; and offers a message of hope that a cure can—and will—be found.
Dr. Howard Weiner has spent nearly three decades trying to find answers to the mysteries of multiple sclerosis, an utterly confounding and devastating disease that afflicts almost half a million Americans. Curing MS is his moving, personal account of the long-term scientific quest to pinpoint the origins of the disease and to find a breakthrough treatment for its victims.
Dr. Weiner is at the cutting edge of MS research and drug development, and he describes in clear and illuminating detail the science behind the symptoms and how new drugs may hold the key to “taming the monster.” In Curing MS , Dr. Weiner teaches us the “Twenty-one Points” of MS, a concise breakdown of the knowns and unknowns of the disease; tells stories from the frontlines of laboratories and hospitals; and offers a message of hope that a cure can—and will—be found.
- GenresMedicineNonfictionHealth
337 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 7, 2025
This is a very good refresher for things that you might have forgotten about ms.
May 5, 2011
This was a nice account of one researcher's career studying MS. The first half of the book is especially interesting, since it goes to some extent into the mechanisms of the disease.
The second half sort of wanders off into the pharmaceutical research, which is less interesting to me. The discussions of Tysabri's introduction(as Antegren), and subsequent recall, is interesting -- especially since that's the medication I now take. The book ends before the drug's re-introduction into the market.
Overall, I very much appreciated the book because it's not written for fourth-graders, is actually about the disease (and not one person's experience with the disease), and is not so dense that I can't access it as a layperson. What I found unsatisfying, I think, is what I find unsatisfying about the disease itself. It seems that nobody (not even scientists) really understands it, or really has more than a tenuous grasp on how the CNS itself works. Which is a sobering realization.
The second half sort of wanders off into the pharmaceutical research, which is less interesting to me. The discussions of Tysabri's introduction(as Antegren), and subsequent recall, is interesting -- especially since that's the medication I now take. The book ends before the drug's re-introduction into the market.
Overall, I very much appreciated the book because it's not written for fourth-graders, is actually about the disease (and not one person's experience with the disease), and is not so dense that I can't access it as a layperson. What I found unsatisfying, I think, is what I find unsatisfying about the disease itself. It seems that nobody (not even scientists) really understands it, or really has more than a tenuous grasp on how the CNS itself works. Which is a sobering realization.
November 27, 2021
Pros: I learned a lot about MS—what causes it and how it’s treated. There’s are lots and lots of patient stories showing how the disease can present in very different ways and take different courses.
Cons: written in 2005, this book is missing two decades of research and treatments. Had I known this I probably would’ve bought a different one. Aside from that, it is written from one doctor’s perspective which I found quite limiting as he writes the book in a roughly chronological order about how he came to understand MS, which I do not find interesting.
Cons: written in 2005, this book is missing two decades of research and treatments. Had I known this I probably would’ve bought a different one. Aside from that, it is written from one doctor’s perspective which I found quite limiting as he writes the book in a roughly chronological order about how he came to understand MS, which I do not find interesting.
June 2, 2024
This is a good book, but only if you know a bit of neuroscience already. I am a very scientific person who is actually getting diagnosed with MS, and I am studying neuroscience in college, so I already know almost all the terms being used. However, I think that if you didn’t know them already, it would be confusing. Regardless, this is a very informative book and I do believe I understand MS better and will be able to do more with that knowledge.
August 23, 2009
An exemplary book illustrating the scientific advanced in our recent history in regards to multiple sclerosis. Although parts were challenging to read because I am not an M.D., most of the book was written for the medically illiterate. We, of course, have yet to find a cure and the title distracted me from this truth, but I see now why we have yet to put the puzzle together. We are attempting to "fix" a car without understanding what's under the hood. The book was good at bringing reality to light. It was good, somewhat depressing, and scientific all trying to remain hopeful. *sigh* A cure in my lifetime? I don't know.
December 29, 2009
A lot of info and very readable. Tells how far science has come since identifying MS. But, I guess I'm just impatient....wish that word had been "solved" instead of "solving". From the book: "What does the MS patient do while we are in the process of curing MS?" "Hope, therapy, and support groups"...I expected to get a little more than that after reading 314 pages....
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February 18, 2009A history of Dr. Weiner's and other's research that has led to where we are today in MS treatments and the hope of a cure one day soon. Just building my knowledge and understanding of this disease.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews