Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Multiple Sclerosis! I know, it sounds disturbing and like some type of foreign disease. I know exactly what your thinking, its not as complicated as you think it is. But the key to understanding the disease is to understand what human body system is being effected the most. Before we get into that you must know that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a auto-immune disease. Well, what is a auto-immune disease? Now you should know why health class is so important... Just joking. A auto-immune disease is when your body decides to attack itself for no apparent reason. Think of it as friendly fire. Why would your body do such a odd thing? There are many possible clues that point out certain explanations but scientist today are still unsure. Here we go! The central nervous system (CNS) is very important to understanding MS. It consists of the brain and the spinal chord which are the largest part of the nervous system. These areas receive the information brought to them, process it, then direct the activities of all the other parts of the body. Both spinal chord and the skull are protected with a bony structure, lots of neural tissues, layers of membrane, and special fluids (called cerebral spinal fluid). If you are lost at this point, science is not your subject. Neurons are the basic unit of the central nervous system (CNS). There are three kinds: sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons. These neurons are covered in a layer called myelin sheath, which helps the speed of transmission. All performing different functions, and vary in size and shape. All the neurons consists of the same three parts cell body, dendrites, and axons. Now don't get confused by neurons and neuroglial cells. Neuroglial cells are just there for support, they act as glue to keep the neurons in place and giving them nutrients. Think of the neuroglial as the caregiver, the one who nurture the kids. The nervous system job is to collect information, make sense of it, and integrate along with the peripheral nervous system. Good job if you understood everything thus far, but don't get to happy because there's more. To sum it all up, think of the nervous system as a company with the brain being the executive director and the spinal chord as the assistant director. With everything else apart of the nervous system being the employee's. So the neurons, neuroglial cells, the bundles of nerves called plexuses or ganglia are the workers. One last thing I have to mention before I get into what multiple sclerosis (MS) is. I can't forget about the four lobes and cerebellum that help function the brain. Each lobe are assign to carry out certain functions of the body. The lobes are called the temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and frontal lobe. Now you got the anatomy and physiology part down so we can move into Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Sclerosis meaning scarring, MS is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS). It damages the myelin sheath, a surrounding material that protects your nerve cells. How does this disease affects your body? Damage like this slows down or blocks messages between your brain and your body. This leads to neurological attacks. Remember when I mention auto-immune disease and friendly fire? Well, what happens is your body immune system attacks your neurons mistakenly. See, your immune system is responsible for attacking unwanted things like bacteria. In this case people with MS their immune system mistake there neurons for an invader. Causing many symptoms and events to take place within your body. Some in which I will get into later. People with MS develops multiple areas of scar tissue on the brain due to the nerve damage. If you're still trying to determine why health care professionals call the disease multiple sclerosis then stop reading. Multiple sclerosis can go from disabling to devastating. Most people, not all experience first symptoms of MS between the ages of 19 and 41. So what are the symptoms? People start experiencing: vision problems, speech problems, memory loss/trouble concentrating, bladder problems, fatigue, muscle weakness, trouble coordinating balance, sensations such as numbness, prickling, and sharp body pains. Symptom may appear like a stroke so don't get confused because they're different. MS is not contagious in any way. Diagnosing this disease is extremely hard. If suspected of having MS, physicians have to run millions of test on you. OK, maybe not a million but it looks like it. Usually physicians will run MRI and CAT scan test on you. There isn't just one single test to determine if you have it or not. Sadly there's no cure for MS yet, however there is treatment opinions to keep patients stable and living comfortably. Medications to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are corticosteroids, muscle relaxants, and other forms of drugs use to treat relapsing forms of MS. These treatments will reduce the attacks that happen to your brain. MS is much more common in females than males and 2 to 3 times more common in relapsing-remitting MS. Lastly, worldwide there is an estimate of 2.3 million people with MS because the Center for Disease Control and Prevention does not require U.S. physicians to record the cases of people with MS.