Symptoms of Multiple sclerosis
Dr.Kut | Feb 15, 2010 | Comments 0
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that affects the nervous system. It is also called the white matter disease because it affects the nerve fibers that cover the brain and the spinal cord. The inflammation of these nerves makes communications difficult and the system begins to fail. However, this is a very slow process and that is why it is extremely difficult to diagnose at the early stages.
The area affected by multiple sclerosis is not the same with all patients. In fact, the pattern seems to vary from person to person and therefore the symptoms also vary. It is like fingerprints. The inflammation of the myelin or the outer nerve that is covering the fluids of the brain and spine gets damaged and this creates a scar or sclerosis. Because of that scar, transmission does not happen and normal operation of the senses begins to fail.
There are a few basic symptoms of multiple sclerosis and they include tingling of the hands or feet, pins and needles, numbness, clumsiness, visual disturbances and many more. The actual inflammation of the nerves happens in certain pattern and it affects the connectivity of certain kind of nerves in that particular pattern. Therefore you will see people suffering from Multiple sclerosis who are coping with the whole situation perfectly fine; however, you will see those who are unable to move a leg or a hand due to numbness, however they don’t seem to have any other symptoms at all.
Once myelin is destroyed then further complications start to take place and the disease starts to affect the person in a more serious manner. Myelin is the fatty cover that insulates the nerve cells.
Other symptoms may include difficulty with bladder control, vertigo, and mild emotional disturbances, vision problems like double vision or blind spots, and even blindness in both the eyes at times. Also some patients of multiple sclerosis can have problems talking because of the disturbances of the central nervous system. Other patients with advanced multiple sclerosis can also experience memory loss.
It is very important to make sure that you are not having any of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and if for some reason you have any doubts, the best thing for you to do is to contact your doctor at the earliest. Prevention is better than cure and especially with a disease like multiple sclerosis. Your doctor will prescribe some tests and if he thinks that you may be suffering from this dreadful disease, then an MRI scan should be able to give you clear results.
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