Up to now, multiple sclerosis is still idiopathic. This means that, although research for its cause is currently and continuously being done, its definite cause still has not been discovered. However, a variety of probable causes has been found. It is through these probable causes that the medical diagnosis of multiple sclerosis can be established.
For starters, there is always the hereditary factor. The hereditary factor is present in almost all of the diseases. For instance, if a great great grandmother had multiple sclerosis, then there is a big chance that her descendants might have the disease as well.
Aside from heredity, the environment, according to researchers, also affects the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. An antigen or allergen commonly found in the environment could trigger a response from the body that later on leads to an immunocompromised system.
Multiple Sclerosis being an autoimmune disease
Research has it that multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease which means that the body’s personal immune system attacks its own cells. For reasons that are still unknown, the body’s immune cells show aggression towards and obliterate the myelin sheath that covers the neurons like an insulator inside the brain and the spinal cord.
This myelin sheath is responsible for the transmission and the prevention of unnecessary electrical activity that short circuits one cell from another cell. Once communication between the brain and the other parts of the body is disrupted, the transmission of sensations and control messages are not anymore normal. This pathophysiology is that of multiple sclerosis.
Plaques in multiple sclerosis
The progression of the disease’s symptoms is correlated with the development of new plaques within the parts of the brain that simultaneously control the affected areas. These plaques are developed from the demyelinated areas, which are basically the tiny round areas of gray neuron that no longer has a white myelin covering.
What makes multiple sclerosis more complicated is that, the pattern of the appearance of the plaques has absolutely no pattern. This makes multiple sclerosis completely unpredictable.
Inflammation of the myelin sheath
Normal cells are covered by a sheath that acts as an insulator. This sheath is made up of adipose substances that are called myelin. Myelin is very helpful in the correct and appropriate transmission of nerve impulses. Once this sheath is damaged from too much inflammation, multiple sclerosis occurs.
WBC action
T cells, which are special subsets of white blood cells, are important in the development of multiple sclerosis. Normally, the T cells are able distinguish between self and non-self. However, with multiple sclerosis, the T cells become weak when it comes to recognizing and differentiating self and non-self. In fact, in most multiple sclerosis cases, these lymphocytes recognize the healthy cells of the central nervous system as foreign and harmful and attack.
There is a BBB or a blood-brain barrier that serves as a tight barrier between the blood and the brain. This barrier is made up of endothelial cells that completely line the walls of the blood vessels. Since the auto-reactive T cells start attacking healthy cells and trigger an inflammatory process, they tend to cross the BBB, when they are not at all supposed to. This breaks down the BBB, thus, leading to multiple sclerosis.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
All About Multiple Sclerosis
What is Multiple Sclerosis?
It has been scientifically determined that multiple sclerosis can potentially debilitate a person. This means that the body’s own immune system attacks the sheath that protects the nerves. Once this sheath is damaged or totally destroyed, the normal communication between the person’s brain and the rest of the body is interfered. This condition results into the deteriorating of the nerves, a complication that can never be reversed.
Multiple Sclerosis symptoms
The symptoms of multiple sclerosis may vary depending on how much damage has occurred to the nerves that are affected. Those who have the severe type of multiple sclerosis can end up being bedridden since their ability to walk or to talk is destroyed.
What is very bothersome about these symptoms is that they tend to come and go. This means that they could suddenly arrive and then suddenly disappear for a few months. This is why doctors find it initially difficult to diagnose multiple sclerosis during its early stages.
Multiple sclerosis symptoms are also usually manifested by people between the ages of twenty and forty. Although multiple sclerosis can happen to anyone from any age, this is the common age range that is affected. Also, according to statistical research, the women are the ones who usually carry this debilitating disorder.
There is numbness or fatigue in one limb or both. This kind of weakness usually occurs on just one side of the body at a single time. However, there have been reports that it could happen to the entire bottom part of the body. This condition is often accompanied with a tingling sensation that is sometimes painful in some parts of the body.
There is also a partial or a complete visual loss which starts at one time then ends with having pain whenever both eyes move. This condition is given the medical term of optic neuritis. Apart from loss of vision, double vision or blurring of vision can also occur.
There could also be sensations like electrical shock that occur whenever the head is moved. Tremors also happen with the accompaniment of absence of coordination and imbalanced gait.
Many who have multiple sclerosis might experience relapses of the symptoms, especially during the early stages of the disorder. This relapsing phase is often followed by partial or complete remission.
Its causes
As minimally mentioned, multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. This means that the body’s immune system attacks its own cells and tissues. The myelin, which is a protective wall that insulates the nerve fibers within, is damaged in multiple sclerosis. Once it is damaged, foreign substances that are potentially harmful can then freely destroy the open and unprotected nerve fibers.
Multiple sclerosis can happen to anyone from any age. However, it has been discovered that it usually occurs to people who are between twenty and forty years of age. As mentioned, women are also the ones who usually carry such disease. In fact, women are twice more likely to have multiple sclerosis than men.
As any other condition, heredity plays an important role. The risk of developing multiple sclerosis is greater for those who have a family history of the disease than for those who do not. If one of the parents has the disease, then there is a one to three percent possibility that multiple sclerosis may develop.
When it comes to identical twins, things are much more complicated and difficult to ascertain. Identical twins would mean having identical risks, according to some medical scientists. However, this is not the case because a twin who has multiple sclerosis only gives his or her identical twin a thirty percent possibility of having the very same disorder.
It has been scientifically determined that multiple sclerosis can potentially debilitate a person. This means that the body’s own immune system attacks the sheath that protects the nerves. Once this sheath is damaged or totally destroyed, the normal communication between the person’s brain and the rest of the body is interfered. This condition results into the deteriorating of the nerves, a complication that can never be reversed.
Multiple Sclerosis symptoms
The symptoms of multiple sclerosis may vary depending on how much damage has occurred to the nerves that are affected. Those who have the severe type of multiple sclerosis can end up being bedridden since their ability to walk or to talk is destroyed.
What is very bothersome about these symptoms is that they tend to come and go. This means that they could suddenly arrive and then suddenly disappear for a few months. This is why doctors find it initially difficult to diagnose multiple sclerosis during its early stages.
Multiple sclerosis symptoms are also usually manifested by people between the ages of twenty and forty. Although multiple sclerosis can happen to anyone from any age, this is the common age range that is affected. Also, according to statistical research, the women are the ones who usually carry this debilitating disorder.
There is numbness or fatigue in one limb or both. This kind of weakness usually occurs on just one side of the body at a single time. However, there have been reports that it could happen to the entire bottom part of the body. This condition is often accompanied with a tingling sensation that is sometimes painful in some parts of the body.
There is also a partial or a complete visual loss which starts at one time then ends with having pain whenever both eyes move. This condition is given the medical term of optic neuritis. Apart from loss of vision, double vision or blurring of vision can also occur.
There could also be sensations like electrical shock that occur whenever the head is moved. Tremors also happen with the accompaniment of absence of coordination and imbalanced gait.
Many who have multiple sclerosis might experience relapses of the symptoms, especially during the early stages of the disorder. This relapsing phase is often followed by partial or complete remission.
Its causes
As minimally mentioned, multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. This means that the body’s immune system attacks its own cells and tissues. The myelin, which is a protective wall that insulates the nerve fibers within, is damaged in multiple sclerosis. Once it is damaged, foreign substances that are potentially harmful can then freely destroy the open and unprotected nerve fibers.
Multiple sclerosis can happen to anyone from any age. However, it has been discovered that it usually occurs to people who are between twenty and forty years of age. As mentioned, women are also the ones who usually carry such disease. In fact, women are twice more likely to have multiple sclerosis than men.
As any other condition, heredity plays an important role. The risk of developing multiple sclerosis is greater for those who have a family history of the disease than for those who do not. If one of the parents has the disease, then there is a one to three percent possibility that multiple sclerosis may develop.
When it comes to identical twins, things are much more complicated and difficult to ascertain. Identical twins would mean having identical risks, according to some medical scientists. However, this is not the case because a twin who has multiple sclerosis only gives his or her identical twin a thirty percent possibility of having the very same disorder.
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