Why does multiple sclerosis only affect the Central Nervous System? Is this because different proteins are active in the CNS than the PNS?
Short answer: yes and no. Yes because the immune system is attacking the specific protein signature in myelin; no because of the difference between the myelination of nerve cells between the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) and the Central Nervous System (CNS).PNS cells are myelinated using Schwann cells. These cells can regenerate, and Schwann cells can re-wrap newly formed PNS cells. If there was damage to the PNS, it can regenerate, and the nerve cells can re-grow.In the CNS, this same process does not occur. The CNS does not possess the same cell regeneration process in adults. When myelin is damaged by the immune system in the autoimmune action of the disease, the myelin is not replaced. What is left in its wake is a plaque or scar through which nerve signals are decreased. This causes the symptoms of MS. It also is where the name “multiple sclerosis” comes from: many scars.
Is multiple sclerosis genetic?
May 31st is World Multiple sclerosis awareness day. Do children suffer from MS and if so how serious is the condition and what are symptoms and treatments? To answer these questions, first we need to understand what is Multiple sclerosis and at what age it can appear?Multiple sclerosis or MS is a neurological condition that effects nerves in the central nervous system – spinal cord and brain. Sclerosis means hardening or scarring of patches of tissues. Multiple because these tiny patches happen at more than one place in the brain or spinal cord. It is a common condition affecting young adults and three times more common in women than in men and diagnosis happens in their 20s and 30s. But, MS can be diagnosed in younger as well as older people.Does MS affect children? Answer is yes. One in every 100 people with MS will experience the symptoms before the age of 10 and between 2 to 5 in every 100 people experience their first symptoms before age 18. Those who are diagnosed with MS might have had showed early symptoms of MS at young age.Some of the important questions and answers regarding childhood MS are:Do children get MS?Answer is yes. Some children show symptoms of MS in childhood but most in early adulthood. Reasons for causes probably same.What are the MS symptoms in children? Continue Reading
Does multiple sclerosis decrease intelligence/IQ?
From the National MS Society:Cognitive changes are common in people with MS — approximately half of all people with MS will develop problems with cognition. Cognition refers to a range of high-level brain functions, including the ability to learn and remember information; organize, plan and problem-solve; focus, maintain and shift attention as necessary; understand and use language; accurately perceive the environment; and perform calculations. In MS, certain functions are more likely to be affected than others:Memory (acquiring, retaining and retrieving new information)Attention and concentration (particularly divided attention)Information processing (dealing with information gathered by the five senses)Executive functions (planning and prioritizing)Visuospatial functions (visual perception and constructional abilities)Verbal fluency (word-finding)Certain functions are likely to remain intact:General intellectLong-term (remote) memoryConversational skillReading comprehensionA person may experience difficulties in only one or two areas of cognitive functioning or in several. Only 5-10 percent of people with MS develop problems severe enough to interfere significantly with everyday activities. In very rare instances, cognitive dysfunction may become so severe that the person can no longer be cared for at home.Further, Cognitive problems are only weakly related to other disease characteristics — meaning that a person with almost no physical limitations can have significant cognitive impairment, while a person who is quite disabled physically can be unaffected cognitively.Changes can occur at any time — even as a first symptom of MS — but are more common later in the disease.Cognitive function correlates with number of lesions and lesion area on MRI, as well as brain atrophy.Cognitive dysfunction can occur with any disease course, but is slightly more likely in progressive MS.Being in an exacerbation is a risk factor for cognitive dysfunction.Cognitive changes generally progress slowly but are unlikely to improve dramatically once they have begun.IQ tests are designed to test "intelligence." Since "intelligence" is defined as "one's capacity for logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, learning, emotional knowledge, memory, planning, and problem solving" (from Wikipedia), and MS can affect all of those, by extension, MS can alter IQ.
How deadly is multiple sclerosis?
Chicken, I have had MS for decades The World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control do not categorize MS as fatal because people who have it live a normal or near normal life span. And most of us do not wind up in a wheel chair or severely disabled. I live a very normal life. I work, swim, lift weights at the gym and have a full social life. I also garden and walk my dogs a mile or two everyday. MS is not a fatal disease. You can go to the Multiple Sclerosis website and verify this for yourself. Or just call the 800 number which is listed on their website. At one time there were no therapies for MS. Now there are many medications that slow the progression of the disease as well as medications that treat the symptoms. The truth is that the majority of people with MS continue on with their lives and careers just as the rest of the population does. Many people unfortunately mix multiple sclerosis up with muscular dystrophy which is a very debilitating and deadly disease. The progressive form of MS can be very disabling over the course of decades. But not every case of MS becomes progressive and ones that do are not fatal. The disease in rare instances does result in fatal complications. Fatal complications are the exception and not the rule.
Multiple Sclerosis and Cerebral Palsy?
You said "Have a person with CP who having anxiety, visual, mood, pain, and sleep too much problem. Can the person mistaken and not be diagnose as MS?" The answer is NO. If the person has CP - it would have already been diagnosed at a very young age. For the symptoms you described, to be diagnosed with CP, those symptoms would have been around since birth. There are cases people are diagnosed with CP as adults... but the symptoms are so mild they don't get picked until there was a particular problem which needed investigating. But for the symptoms you described... if it was CP it would have to be present since birth and NOT just present itself now. The symptoms are alike but CP is permanent and the area of the body that is affected will ALWAYS show those symptoms. The damage to the brain is permanent and manifested since birth. MS symptoms can come and go. You said she "act childlish when she get rejected from people. " and " being abrasive socially " - even that does NOT sound like MS. There might be some other cause in her brain. I wish you well in finding some answers to her condition. That's my opinion. Hope that makes sense.
How does having multiple sclerosis impede wound healing?
While it is unlikely that MS itself would impede wound healing, it's possible that there could be an interaction with one of the medications that a person takes for MS or for a side effect of MS or the medication.There are four distinct phases to wound healing (hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and remodeling) and all have to happen in the proper sequence, in the proper order and for the appropriate duration for a wound to heal. The NIH has an excellent write-up of the course of wound healing and what happens during and between those four phases here. If you examine the factors affecting wound healing, medication is a big one. Anti-inflammatory medications will affect the wound healing process, as the second phase of wound healing is inflammation. Limit inflammation and you limit the speed of wound healing. MS is an inflammatory disease, and many MS medicines are anti-inflammatory, slowing or interfering with the immune system's responses. This can have a significant effect on the amount of time a wound can take to heal. Stress is also a major player in affecting speed of wound healing.