Multiple Sclerosis can affect both men and women although a woman’s chances of developing the disease are twice as high as a man’s. The onset of symptoms usually (but not always) appear in young adults ages in their twenties and thirties.

1. Benign – Some patient’s symptoms of the disease don’t continue to progress past the mild or moderate. They reach a certain level and don’t worsen from that point or lead to permanent disability. This accounts to 10-15% of the disease.

2. Relapsing – On the other hand, eighty-five percent of Multiple Sclerosis patients will begin by having this form of the disease. This category will have periodic flare ups of only one or two every one to three years. These flare ups are the followed by a seeming stage of remission. When a patient has one of these "relapsing" flare-ups, he or she may suffer a combination of any the symptoms listed above. They appear suddenly and can last anywhere from a few weeks to several months. After however long they stick around, the symptoms will then gradually disappear. As they appear during the next relapse, the symptoms very often are worse and will continue to worsen with each subsequent relapse.

3. Primary progressive – Approximately ten to fifteen percent of the victims of Multiple Sclerosis will have this category of the disease from the beginning of their disease. Primary progressive is when the symptoms continue to worsen and the condition deteriorates without any times of remission.

4. Secondary progressive – This category of the disease often happens to the relapsing patient after several years. This usually will occur after years of relapsing and at least half of these patients will begin continuously deteriorating.

5. Progressive relapsing – This category of Multiple Sclerosis is rare and accounts for about five percent of the total cases. The differences between progressive relapsing and primary progressive are there are episodes of new symptoms as well as a worsening of the existing ones.