That doesn't really say too much, except that you most likely have this thing they call MS.

As far as the types of MS, Marc is right on the money with everything he's said, in both postings. There does tend to be a greater degree of spinal cord abnormality with PPMS, and in fact it may be THAT the disease does a fair bit of damage to the cord (for whatever reasons) that ultimately helps define the disease as PPMS. Spinal cord damage is often severe and permanent.

According to this article, "researchers have identified four different subtypes of MS, and each is thought to be caused by a different autoimmune process. As a result, developing a treatment that effectively targets all types of MS has been challenging", according to Douglas Kerr, M.D., Ph.D, associate professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"Seeking an alternative way to use the drug, Kerr and his colleagues reasoned that HiCy might clear out the majority of a patient's immune system in one fell swoop, then allow it to "reboot," giving nerve cells a fresh start and an opportunity to repair themselves. In the current study, nine MS patients got a total single infusion of 200 milligrams per kilogram of cyclophosphamide intravenously over four days, a dose several times higher than that given in pulsed regimens but significantly lower than the total amount usually given patients over time.

Reporting in the June 9 Archives of Neurology, the Johns Hopkins team said the disease appeared to reverse course for seven of the nine patients over two years following treatments.

Kerr cautions that the "reboot" phenomenon didn't work in all the patients. Two years after treatment, MRI images showed that the disease had reactivated in about half the study participants, suggesting that their renewed ability may not be permanent."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/110709.php

I believe the "4 different subtypes of MS" that Kerr is referring to might be according to the patterns that the group working with Claudia Lucchinetti, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic has uncovered with The MS Lesion Project.

"Their initial study, based on a large pathology sample of patients with multiple sclerosis (32 autopsies, 51 biopsies) revealed “profound heterogeneity in the immunopathological appearance of active multiple sclerosis lesions.”

The group identified four different patterns, based on:

1) distribution of myelin protein loss,
2) plaque geography,
3) extent and pattern of oligodendrocyte destruction, and
4) evidence for immunoglobulin G and complement activation."

There's lots more information in the following link:

http://www.neurologyreviews.com/aug0..._mslesion.html

Cherie