What is Multiple Sclerosis?
Filed Under Multiple Sclerosis General, Multiple Sclerosis Research, Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms |
When people find out that I have multiple sclerosis, many people have the question, “What is multiple sclerosis?”.
Multiple sclerosis is widely believed to be an autoimmune disease, and it impacts the central nervous system, which includes the spinal cord, optic nerves and brain. It is, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, “the most common neurological disorder diagnosed in young adults”. This disease damages the central nervous system by attacking the insulating material, called myelin, that protects the nerves. When this material is damaged, the white matter surrounding the nerve fibers becomes hardened and those hardened areas are called plaques. These plaques are basically scar tissue that forms and they can slow the nerve impulses to the body. This, in turn, leads to nervous system incoordination.
Let me help you visualize this. The brain is like a very powerful computer that controls your entire body. To communicate with the body, the brain uses the equivalent of wires, which are the nerves in your body. When you want to move your toes, a message is sent from the brain to the toes telling them to move. This signal travels from the brain, down the nerves, in the spinal cord, and signals the toes to move. This is normally a very efficient communication system because the nerves are very well insulated. This insulation is the myelin, which is a fat and protein mix. This myelin is a coating on the nerves, much like the rubber insulation on a wire, and allows the electrical impulses to flow effectively.
For some reason, the myelin is attacked in people with MS and leaves hardened areas that look scarred. Another name for that scar is a sclerosis, thus the name multiple sclerosis, which literally means multiple scars.
The symptoms of multiple sclerosis are those that would indicate a damaged or irritated central nervous system. The symptoms are very similar to other neurological disorders such as stroke, trauma, tumors and migraines. Since the symptoms are so similar to these other disorders, it requires a certain level of expertise and knowledge to properly identify multiple sclerosis. For those who are knowledgeable, though, it is not really all that difficult to diagnose.
Some of the symptoms of MS are things like numbness, blurred vision, double vision, tingling, weakness, fatigue, clumsiness, pain, cognitive issues, dizziness, stiffness and muscle spasms. These symptoms come and go and are not predictable or consistent. One day, a person may have great difficulty walking and a few days later be walking fine again.
Sometimes these attacks, known as ms exacerbations, leave permanent damage. Sometimes the condition improves leaving only some damage and sometimes there are no obvious signs of damage at all, and a complete recovery is seen. This unpredictability is one of the worst parts of the disease for the victim.
There is currently no cure for multiple sclerosis. There are, however, several medications approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. These treatments include the drugs Avonex, Betaseron, Rebif, Copaxone, Tysabriand Novantrone. Some of these are taken by self-injection and others are administered intravenously at the doctor’s office. There are also clinical trials underway in hopes of developing an approved drug in pill form to be taken orally but there is no definitive proof, yet, of the effectiveness.
So, What is multiple sclerosis? It’s a neurological disorder that can be severely disabling. What is multiple sclerosis? It’s an autoimmune disease that effects the central nervous system. What is multiple sclerosis? It’s a degenerative disease that affects over 350,000 people in the United States alone.
Multiple sclerosis is all these things. It’s still being researched, there is no cure and the cause is unknown. It is still, mostly, a medical mystery with no cure.
Those of us who suffer from multiple sclerosis have great hope that a cure will come soon. Continuing research is needed to achieve this goal and both donations and increased government funding into research can help accomplish this.
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