What Is Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple
sclerosis affects 2.5 million people worldwide;
including 400,000 Americans. This is a serious
and chronic illness that can render a person disabled
if left untreated.
Multiple Sclerosis or MS as it is
more commonly known is a brain and spinal cord
disease. It is caused by progressive damage to
the myelin, the outer covering of nerve cells.
This results in the loss of muscle
control, vision, balance, sensation (feeling)
and reasoning (thinking ability). Multiple sclerosis
is an autoimmune disease in which the nerve cells
of the brain and spinal cord are attacked by the
body’s own immune system. This disease has
no cure.
What Happens In
MS?
The central nervous system is made up of nerves
which act as the body's messengers. These nerves
are covered by a fatty substance called myelin,
which protects the nerves and helps in the transmission
of nerve impulses between the brain and other
parts of the body.
In multiple sclerosis, scar tissue builds up
and forms around the brain and spinal cord causing
inflammation of the nerve tissues there. This
happens when the body’s own immune system
attacks the nervous system.
Scientists cannot explain why this happens. When
the myelin is destroyed, nerve impulses are slowed
down or blocked. And although the nerves can regain
myelin, the process is not fast enough to outpace
the deterioration that takes place in multiple
sclerosis.
The symptoms, severity of the symptoms, and the
course the symptoms take, vary with each individual.
This is in part due to the location of the scar
tissue and the extent of demyelination. Demyelination
is the process in which the myelin covering of
the nerves is destroyed.
According to the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society (NMSS) around 400,000 Americans have MS
and it the most frequent cause of neurological
disability in early adulthood. It affects approximately
1 out of 1,000 people.
Multiple sclerosis is more common in women than
men and does not occur before adolescence. A person’s
risk for developing this seriously debilitating
diseases declines after the age of 35. This disease
most commonly begins between the ages of 20 to
35.
Cause
The cause of MS is unknown. Research shows that
geography and environmental factors may be involved.
MS is more likely to occur in northern European
countries, northern U.S.A., southern Australia,
and New Zealand. Basically places away from the
equator.
Areas and people living closer to the equator
have much lower rates of this condition. Studies
suggest that MS is more common in certain parts
of the world than in others. It goes on to say
that if you move from an area with a lower risk
to one of a higher risk, you acquire the risk
of your new home, if your move occurs before adolescence.
There is also a genetic link to MS with some
families more likely to be affected than others.
Certain genetic markers are more common in people
with this disease.
Scientists are unable to understand why the body’s
own immune system attacks the nerve cells. Some
believe it is a combination of genetics and the
environment, to which a person is exposed to early
in their lives.
In the U.S., for example MS is more prevalent
in Caucasians than in other racial groups. African
and Japanese people rarely get this disease, but
African Americans and Japanese Americans do.
The most frequent theories about the cause of
MS include a virus-type organism or an abnormality
of the genes responsible for control of the immune
system. However, these theories have yet to be
proved.
Research studies show growing evidence that hormones,
including sex hormones, can affect and be affected
by the immune system. For example, both estrogen
and progesterone, two important female sex hormones,
may suppress some immune system activity. Testosterone,
the male sex hormone, may also act as an immune
response suppressor.
Symptoms
The symptoms in MS vary from person to person
and can change over time in the same person. The
most common early symptoms include:
- Muscle weakness
- Decreased co-ordination skills
- Blurred vision accompanied by eye pain &
- Double vision
As this disease progresses, there is increased
muscle stiffness, pain in movement, difficulty
controlling urination and difficulty in thinking.
There is usually a stepwise development of this
disease, with episodes that last days, weeks,
or months alternating with times of few or no
symptoms.
Treatment
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis, but a
variety of medications are available that can
reduce the frequency and severity of the symptoms
of this disease. Some drugs can also slow the
progression of certain types of MS. |
