Multiple sclerosis treatment
Expert specialty treatment for your multiple sclerosis (MS) is now available at Allina Health Neuroscience, Spine, and Pain Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While there is currently no cure for multiple sclerosis, our highly trained team can offer treatments and therapies that can help slow the progression of your disease and manage your symptoms.
Our team also provides diagnosis and treatment for other neuroimmunology conditions.
Learn more
Understanding multiple sclerosis
Understanding MS is complex, because there is much about MS that the scientific community has yet to uncover. The symptoms of MS, and the disease itself, often take different forms. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society reports more than one million people in the United States have MS.
Multiple sclerosis is an immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system. The inflammation and resulting myelin damage interfere with the way the brain communicates not only with itself, but with the rest of the body. This can cause a variety of symptoms that can change from person to person and even day to day within the same person.
Common symptoms include:
- bladder and bowel dysfunction
- emotional changes, including depression
- fatigue
- lack of coordination
- memory, attention, and decision-making issues
- mobility impairment (muscle spasticity and weakness)
- pain, itching, and tingling sensations
- vision disorders
Testing for multiple sclerosis
Your first appointment at the Abbott Northwestern Hospital Neuroscience Clinic will come by referral, most likely from your primary care doctor. The first appointment may take 60 minutes and includes a detailed intake and comprehensive evaluation and testing, with the possibility of future appointments for additional tests and scans.
There is no one test that can definitively determine whether you have MS. Your care team will have to track your symptoms and uncover evidence of MS, plus rule out other diagnoses, through a variety of measures to arrive at a correct diagnosis.
Testing may include:
- blood tests
- lumbar puncture
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- neurological exam
- vision tests, including referrals to ophthalmology
Don’t delay making an appointment—the faster we arrive at a correct diagnosis, the faster we can help prevent further damage to your nervous system and help you live your best life.
Treatment for multiple sclerosis
Allina Health offers an interdisciplinary, customized treatment plan geared toward managing your symptoms and helping you thrive. Our highly skilled team of specialists will help you determine the treatments that work best for your individual case.
These multiple sclerosis treatments may include:
- Oral medications: These medications are often referred to as Disease-Modifying Therapies, or DMTs, and are often the first line of treatment for MS.
- IV infusions: We partner with our Allina Health Cancer Institute facilities to bring you IV infusion care in a location that is close to your home.
- Rehabilitation psychology: You may meet with our neuroscience-dedicated, licensed therapist to manage your mental health.
- Rehabilitation services: We work with our renowned providers and therapists at our Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Centers to help you manage physical and mental symptoms of multiple sclerosis such as bladder and bowel dysfunction, cognitive impairment, energy conservation, fatigue, learning and using adaptive equipment and muscle weakness. Our rehabilitation services for multiple sclerosis include physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
Expert multiple sclerosis specialists
Having a highly trained team is key to bringing you the latest research and available treatments, delivered with a whole-person perspective—and ours includes a physician with fellowship training specifically geared to neuroimmunology and an important relationship with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, plus years of devotion to MS in practice.
Our multiple sclerosis care team includes:
- RN nurse navigator to provide guidance, support, and education
- infusion nurses
- pharmacists
- physical therapy/occupational therapy/speech and language therapy through the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute
- provider coordinator
- social worker
Clinical trials for multiple sclerosis
Research and clinical trials to find a cure for MS continue. As our practice grows and changes, there will be opportunities to participate in clinical trials through our neuroscience research team. Your participation ideally has a two-fold effect: Your condition is better managed, and your contribution not only helps others like you, but also brings us closer to a cure for everyone.
Other neuroimmunology rare diseases
Our neuroimmunology team has experience treating other rare or chronic neurological diseases and conditions, including:
- autoimmune encephalitis
- myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD)
- neuromyelitis optica
- neurosarcoidosis
- paraneoplastic neurologic disorders
Insurance coverage and billing
As with all medical treatments, coverage may vary depending on your insurer. Please contact your insurance provider directly to get the most accurate information about multiple sclerosis treatment coverage, policy details, and financial responsibilities.