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What is multiple
sclerosis is a question to which most people have no answer. Many heard of it
and might know that it is a very serious and disabling disease but that's pretty
much it.
MS belongs next to epilepsy today to the
fastest growing neurological diseases. Worldwide more than 2,500,000 persons
suffer from it and the number increases constantly and progressively.
MS is very common among young adults
affecting mostly people between age 20 and 40. Children may be affected as well,
but it appears rarely in adults beyond age 55. According to data collections,
women develop MS twice to three times (the numbers differ for unknown reason) as often as men do.
Medical scientists say MS would stay
with people for their whole life. There are several pharmaceuticals to ease the
pain and other symptoms. Thus, they reduce severity and delay progression. To
physicians and scientists this illness is not yet fully understood. "Although
its cause is not known and a cure has yet to be identified, research continues
into all aspects of the condition." (Citations are in quotation marks.)
This does not yet answer the question
what is multiple sclerosis at all.
MS is a problem of the CNS, your Central
Nervous System. Your CNS consists of the brain, optic nerves
and spinal cord. The nerve fibers are surrounded by an insulating material
called myelin, which is damaged to some degree with MS.
Some say the demyelination is caused by
inflammation. Due to this demyelination, nerve impulses carrying messages from
the brain and spinal cord through the body slow down causing reduced or lost
body functions. You find more information regarding myelin on our myelin site
(link on previous site).
The nerves itself may also get damaged.
The destruction of myelin leads to a
disruption in the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and
from the brain. This produces the multiple symptoms of MS. The demyelinated
areas show lesions that appear as scars, hardened areas. These scars form at
different times and in various areas of the brain and spinal cord. The hardened
areas of scared tissue are called sclerosis and multiple refers to the fact that
many areas in the body are affected. What is multiple sclerosis is best answered
as the hardening of various cicatrized areas of the CNS.
MS is a progressive disease of the
nervous system, for which according to medicine there would be no cure. This is
in fact the opposite of the truth.
There are four types of MS: relapsing remitting,
primary progressive, secondary progressive, and progressive relapsing.
MS is often called an
autoimmune-disorder what means the immune system attacks its own system. This is
in this case the myelin sheath. After reviewing many information sources this is
still unproven but rather an assumption. "While the exact cause of MS is not
known, much is known about its effect on immune system function which may be the
ultimate cause of the disease."
MS is not directly inherited. A genetic
predisposition however plays a role in its development.
The incidences of MS increase in
countries further from the equator with a still higher prevalence in the
northern hemisphere. Although true, it is no evidence in return that more
sunshine and accordingly a higher level vitamin D would reduce the risk of MS.
This is a little bit too simple and distracts us from the true cause. We will
talk about this detailed in the chapter on the causes of MS.
There is no drug able to cure MS. That
is a real fact and they will probably never find one as long as they keep
looking in the wrong places for the cause.
Sure is that it's not contagious.
Nevertheless, they suppose that it's caused by one or several viruses, which is
finally a contradiction in terms as viruses got to get into the body.
Interestingly medical scientists
including the MS societies admit that the true cause of MS is still guessing
game. However, thousands of patients have been cured by a changed diet what
makes the true cause more than obvious. As the question what is multiple
sclerosis is now clearer to you we can go deeper into MS research.
Return from What Is Multiple Sclerosis to MS Symptoms & Research
It is important to indentify MS symptoms as early
as possible to increase your chance to recover. Here is a list of almost all
specific MS symptoms known today.
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