Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). In multiple sclerosis, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes problems with communication between the brain and the rest of the body. Multiple sclerosis itself is rarely fatal, but complications can result from severe multiple sclerosis, such as chest or bladder infections or swallowing difficulties. The average life expectancy of people with multiple sclerosis is 5 to 10 years lower than the average, and this gap seems to be getting smaller.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a long-term (chronic) central nervous system disease. It's thought to be an autoimmune disorder, a condition in which the body attacks itself by mistake. Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable disease that affects people differently. Some people with multiple sclerosis may have only mild symptoms.
Others may lose the ability to see clearly, write, speak, or walk when communication between the brain and other parts of the body is interrupted. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic condition that affects people differently. A small number of people with multiple sclerosis will have a mild course with little or no disability, while others will have a disease that is steadily worsening and leading to an increase in disability over time. However, most people with multiple sclerosis will have short periods of symptoms followed by extended periods of relative inactivity (inactivity or latency), with a partial or full recovery.
The disease is rarely fatal and most people with multiple sclerosis have a normal life expectancy. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that interrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the body. It's a neurological condition, meaning it affects the nerves. Multiple sclerosis occurs when the immune system attacks nerves by mistake.
It damages the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Multiple sclerosis can be a particularly debilitating disorder because the body essentially attacks itself. But you can learn to cope with attacks. So what causes multiple sclerosis? Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease in which the body's immune system corrodes the protective sheath that covers the nerves.
The disorder interrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body, meaning that nerve signals slow down or stop. We don't know exactly why this is happening. The most common idea is that a virus or a genetic defect, or both, are to blame. Environmental factors can even influence.
We know that the disorder affects more women than men, that you can have it if you have a family history of multiple sclerosis, and that you are at greater risk if you live in a part of the world where multiple sclerosis is more common. It's usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, but we see the disorder at any age. Now you may ask yourself, how do you know you have multiple sclerosis? The symptoms of multiple sclerosis can vary widely from person to person because the location and severity of each attack can be different. Episodes can last for days, weeks, or months.
You may even have long periods of time when you don't have symptoms. Because multiple sclerosis can damage nerves anywhere in the brain or spinal cord, you may have symptoms in many parts of your body. You may have muscle problems, such as loss of balance, muscle spasms, numbness, problems moving your arms or legs, even trouble walking. You may have problems with your bowels and bladder, such as constipation, difficulty urinating, or frequent urination.
You may have double vision, eye pain, or uncontrolled eye movements. You're likely to be very tired and often worse by the end of the afternoon. And those are just a few of the many possible symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Because the symptoms of multiple sclerosis may resemble other nervous system disorders, your doctor will want to rule it out.
Your doctor may suspect you have multiple sclerosis if you have problems with two different parts of the central nervous system (such as abnormal reflexes) at two different times. A neurological exam may show decreased function in one area of the body, or it may be spread over many parts of the body. You may have abnormal reflexes, decreased ability to move part of your body, loss of feeling. An eye exam may show abnormal pupil responses, changes in the visual field, or problems seeing.
There's no known cure for multiple sclerosis, so your doctor will focus on therapies to delay the disorder, control symptoms, and help you maintain a normal quality of life. Your doctor may prescribe different medications to help with this. You may need to take several medications. Life expectancy with multiple sclerosis can be normal or nearly normal.
Most people with multiple sclerosis continue to walk and function at work with minimal disability for 20 years or longer. The degree of disability and discomfort may depend on the frequency of the attacks, their severity, and the part of the central nervous system affected by each attack. Most people recover their normal or near-normal functions between attacks. However, over time, many people with multiple sclerosis will need a wheelchair.
To help you maintain a normal quality of life, your doctor may recommend physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and support groups, depending on your needs. Starting an exercise program in the early stages of the disorder, eating well, and getting enough rest can also help. Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves). It's an autoimmune disease that causes immune cells to mistakenly attack healthy nerve cells.
These attacks cause inflammation and damage to the myelin sheath that covers and protects nerve cells. This damage causes neurological symptoms such as loss of balance, vision problems, and muscle weakness. There are several effective treatments for MS. These medications reduce relapses and help slow the progression of the disease.
Most people with multiple sclerosis are able to control their symptoms and lead full, active lives. Relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis is a type of multiple sclerosis in which there are relapses (symptoms worsen) followed by recovery (that is, when it comes to “remission”). In addition to NINDS, other NIH institutes, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), fund research on multiple sclerosis. To understand what happens in multiple sclerosis, it's helpful to understand how the central nervous system works.
It can be difficult to know if you have multiple sclerosis (MS) because some of the symptoms are similar to those of other conditions. Researchers in the BEAT-MS clinical trial (the best available therapy against autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple sclerosis) are extracting some immune cells and then injecting some of the person's own blood-producing stem cells to restore the immune system and stop attacking the CNS. The term multiple sclerosis refers to the distinctive areas of scar tissue (sclerosis also called plaques or lesions) that result from an attack on myelin by the immune system. Vision problems, such as optic neuritis (blurred vision and pain in one eye), are often one of the first signs of multiple sclerosis.
Traditionally, the diagnosis of MS depends on demonstrating that there is multiple sclerosis (scarring or inflammation): patients must have two different CNS lesions that have occurred in two or more separate episodes, that is, they must have lesions spread over space and time. In some cases, multiple sclerosis causes disability and loss of physical or mental function. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological disease among young adults, and symptoms usually appear between the ages of 20 and 40. Multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common disabling neurological disease among young people, affects approximately a quarter of a million Americans.
Multiple sclerosis favors women over men by almost 2 to 1, and it most commonly affects between the ages of 20 and 40. An MRI looks for evidence of injuries (damaged areas) in the brain or spinal cord that indicate multiple sclerosis. The central nervous system connects everything the body does, so multiple sclerosis can cause many different types of symptoms. Multiple sclerosis is a disorder of the central nervous system characterized by decreased nerve function, with initial inflammation of the protective layer of the myelin nerve and, eventually, scarring.
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