Get The Facts In Observance Of National Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week

You might see people wearing orange this week for National Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week.

More than 2 million people suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) around the world.

MS is a disease that affects the protective sheath which covers your nerves. This nerve damage means your brain isn't able to communicate as well as it should with the rest of your body.

Symptoms can range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis.

Michigan has one of the highest populations of people with MS as 18,000 residents are affected.

And while there's no known cause, Elana Sullivan with the Michigan Chapter of the MS Society offers some theories. "It's been associated with a deficiency of vitamin D and there's a theory it might be a virus picked up early in life in cold climates and it's triggered later in life."

Sullivan says there are treatments for MS including medications to slow the progression of the disease.