Multiple sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). It is an unpredictable disease that affects predominantly women, between the ages of 20 and 40. In a healthy person signals can travel through the brain at speeds of up to 350km/hr. This extraordinary velocity cannot be reached without myelin. Myelin is formed when a cell called the oligodendrocyte wraps itself around a nerve cell like a rolled up sleeping bag. Myelin acts as an insulator and helps conduct nerve impulses from nerve endings in the body to the brain and visa versa. Myelin allows nerve impulses to be conducted with such speed and efficiency that we can perform smooth, rapid and coordinated movements with barely any conscious effort.

In MS the myelin is attacked due to an abnormal response of the body’s own immune system. Researchers do not know what triggers the immune system to attack myelin, only that it is a remarkably complex process. The trigger activates white blood cells (lymphocytes) in the blood stream, which then enter the brain and disturb the brain's defence mechanisms ( ie. the blood/brain barrier). Once inside the brain these cells activate other elements of the immune system which help to attack and destroy myelin. This attack by the immune system causes plaque formation throughout brain and spinal cord. These plaques cause the symptoms of MS.

The symptoms may include loss of balance and coordination, diminished vision, weakness of limbs, extreme fatigue (especially during hot weather), impaired speech and loss of bladder control. A person with MS might experience one, several or all of these symptoms, depending on the location and size of the plaques. No two cases of MS are identical. At one end of the spectrum it is an unexpected, short lived episode such as temporary blurred vision. At the other it is a chronic progressive and debilitating disease which can result in confinement to a wheelchair.