Learning more about Multiple Sclerosis
Dr.Kut | Feb 27, 2010 | Comments 0
Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system where the immune cells become confused and start to attack the nervous system. The inflammation caused by multiple sclerosis in the nervous tissue causes the fatty material that protects the nerve fibers of the brain and the spinal cord to get dissolved.
Once this is done, then the tissue gets scars, which are called sclerosis and in this manner it disrupts the capacity of the cells to communicate with each other properly and to send signals from the brain to the rest of the body.
The actual reasons for Multiple Sclerosis are unknown; however one very important factor that studies have revealed is that it may have to do with some kind of environmental factors, as it is very common in the northern parts of Europe and the USA and also in South Australia and New Zealand. People living in those areas are at high risk of getting multiple sclerosis.
The symptoms and number of attacks that a patient gets vary all the time. There are people that get the symptoms and then they deteriorate very rapidly, and there are those that seem to get breaks in between and feel totally cured for extended periods of time. Multiple sclerosis works very different in different people and that is why it is a very difficult disease to diagnose also. However, this is considered to be a chronic disease and there is no cure for it so far.
There are a few concepts being formed on the actual reason for multiple sclerosis, however nothing is final. One of the speculations is that it is the work of a virus, or an abnormality of the genes that control the immune system and maybe a combination of both. Whether this virus is coming from the outside environment and is being able to enter the immune system of some, or whether it is a virus that is already in the system in a dormant manner and gets awakened by some natural or unnatural conditions, it is yet to be known.
The amount of people affected with Multiple sclerosis is very high and it affects women more than men. Symptoms of this disease can be seen on people of all ages, and people with family history of multiple sclerosis are most prone to the risks than others.
Getting proper diagnosis for Multiple sclerosis is not easy, however, it can make a big difference to your life if you are able to understand what to expect in the first place. There are also many cases of people that have been wrongly diagnosed at the beginning and that did not really have these problems, however, this happens because of the variety and complexity of the symptoms that Multiple sclerosis has.
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Filed Under: Blood and Immunity • General Health
