Multiple Sclerosis

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MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Multiple Sclerosis is the most common disease of the central nervous system. In the United States alone, there are at least 250,000 cases. For reasons that remain unclear, it is more prevalent in northern temperate zones and affects noticeably more women than men. The average age of onset is thirty years.
These areas of sclerosis also referred to as lesions or plaques, occur in the white matter of the central nervous system. Gray matter consists primarily of nerve cells. Axons (nerve fibers) are the connections between the cell body and the muscles, sensory organs, and primary organs such as the heart. These nerve cells are the communication system both within the central nervous system and between it and the rest of the body. Axons are sheathed in myelin, a white substance that insulates them and speeds transmission of impulses along the cell fibers. Electrical impulses move along the nerve fiber to the synapse to the next nerve cell.
Symptoms of MS vary enormously, both from patient to patient and, over time, in one patient. Symptoms may include tingling, pins and needles, numbness, double or blurred vision, clumsiness of fine movements or of walking, frequency and urgency of urination, muscle weakness and spasms, pain or paralysis, in coordination, and mood or thought disturbances. Patients sometimes do not have the ability do to carry on normal daily activities.
Motor symptoms include weakness, spasticity, loss of balance or in coordination, and speech disorders. Sensory symptoms include pins and needles, tingling, feelings of tightness or solidity and, sometimes, sharp pains. Visual symptoms include blurred or double vision, involuntary eye movements, and, on occasion, blindness, which is almost always temporary. Urinary symptoms are common, as are frequent urinary tract infections. Energy problems include a lack of energy, easy fatigability, and lack of endurance, particularly in the presence of heat and ...