Damage caused by myelin and the nervous system In multiple sclerosis, the protective layer of nerve fibers (myelin) of the central nervous system is damaged. This creates an injury that, depending on the location in the central nervous system, can cause symptoms such as numbness, pain, or tingling in some parts of the body. Multiple sclerosis is caused by damage to the myelin sheath. This cover is the protective cover that surrounds nerve cells.
When this nerve covering is damaged, nerve signals slow down or stop. Nerve damage is caused by inflammation. Inflammation occurs when the body's own immune cells attack the nervous system. This can occur along any area of the brain, optic nerve, and spinal cord.
Pain is a very personal experience, one that one can feel but that others cannot see. It's common in multiple sclerosis and can limit your ability to do the things you like. Some types of pain are the direct result of multiple sclerosis and are caused by damage to the nerves of the central nervous system. Other types of pain are due to changes in the body caused by multiple sclerosis.
For example, you may have leg weakness and you may walk differently now, causing pain in your back and hip. This pain is due to another cause of multiple sclerosis (weakness). In addition, you may experience aches and pains that anyone can feel and that are not related at all to multiple sclerosis, such as a toothache or stomach ache. The type of pain that comes directly from nerve damage in multiple sclerosis is called neuropathic pain.
Pain that comes from weakness, stiffness, or other mobility problems caused by multiple sclerosis is considered musculoskeletal pain. Both types of pain can be acute, of rapid onset and short duration, or chronic, starting gradually and persisting daily or almost every day. The key is to identify the type of pain and treat the source of it. Pain is a common symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS), especially when the spinal cord is affected.
But it's very different from the pain caused by, for example, a broken bone or a burn. The pain of multiple sclerosis is neuropathic, meaning that the nerves generate it, but without any injury or tissue damage present. Multiple sclerosis can be a particularly debilitating disorder because the body essentially attacks itself. 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.
Myelin is a substance that forms the protective sheath (myelin sheath) that covers nerve fibers (axons). It's very important for people with multiple sclerosis to stay physically active, as physical inactivity can contribute to worsening stiffness, weakness, pain, fatigue, and other symptoms. Multiple sclerosis also damages nerve cell bodies, which are found in the gray matter of the brain, as well as the brain's own axons, spinal cord and optic nerves that transmit visual information from the eye to the brain. Because the symptoms of multiple sclerosis may resemble other nervous system disorders, your doctor will want to rule it out.
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. 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. Neuropathic pain is caused by a “short circuit” of the nerves that carry signals from the brain to the body due to damage caused by multiple sclerosis. 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.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). 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. In most cases, it's treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant medications, which are less likely to cause fatigue than other antidepressant medications. The disease is confirmed when symptoms and signs appear and are related to different parts of the nervous system at more than one interval and after other alternative diagnoses have been ruled out.
The disorder interrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body, meaning that nerve signals slow down or stop. .
