What is Multiple Sclerosis disease? Simply put, it’s an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. Of course, there’s nothing simple about the disease itself. As for what causes Multiple Sclerosis disease exactly, it’s the reaction the immune system has to the nerves. The immune systems job is to protect the body from viruses, infections, and other illness that make a person ill. However, when it comes to MS, the immune system is actually at fault for causing the disease in the first place. The white blood cells of the immune system attack nerve cells and cause the outer coating to be stripped away. This outer cover on nerve cells is called a ‘myelin sheath’ and is needed to aid in transmitting nerve impulses between the body and the brain.
Without the sheath in place, the signals are weakened or lost altogether. When the brain and body are unable to communicate, muscle control is lost. The lack of a proper connection throughout the central nervous system is what makes the Multiple Sclerosis disease so debilitating. If left untreated, more than 50 symptoms can occur and the person with the disease can end up completely dependent on others for mobility and functioning in daily life.
As the nerve cells are attacked, lesions appear. These are a build-up of scar tissue, which is where MS actually gets its name from, sclerosis basically means scars. The name of the disease is referring to the multiple scars created by the immune system. The more scarring present, the less effective the nerve impulses are. Unfortunately, this process cannot be reversed; only slowed down. It affects both men and women between the ages of 20 to 40, but more than half of the cases diagnosed are women.
Treating Multiple Sclerosis Disease Symptoms
Symptoms can be mild or severe; few or many. The person affected with MS could have a low tolerance to pain, which would cause mild symptoms felt by others to feel more intense. The symptoms can be divided into either early and late, common and uncommon, or primary, secondary, and tertiary symptoms. However you look at them, they are abundant and uncomfortable, no matter what category you put them in.
The list of symptoms includes tingling, numbness, weakness in limbs, optic distortion, loss of balance, slurred speech, sudden paralysis, cognitive difficulties, lack of coordination, fatigue, heat sensitivity, muscle spasms, dizziness or vertigo, burning, itching, stabbing pains, tremors, sore feet or legs, speech problems, difficulty swallowing, and loss of bladder or bowel control.
Knowing the answer to, ‘What is Multiple Sclerosis disease?’, will hopefully enable researchers to get closer to a cure for this autoimmune disease.
