Mutiple sclerosis is a chronic illness of the central nervous system which has effects on the body's defense system.



People that have passed the age of thirty usually develop multiple sclerosis, and there are much more women than men suffering from the disease. More than one million people are affected by multiple sclerosis.

The central nervous system is made of the brain and the spine and without it the body couldn't live and think, because it processes the signals transmitted by the nerve endings that are spread all over the body and responds to them. Multiple sclerosis affects this process and therefore interferes with our abilities too taste, smell, touch and feel everything.

The nerves of the central nervous system are surrounded by membrane called myelin. This membrane is affected by multiple sclerosis because it makes the central nervous system attack it by sending the antibodies and the white blood cells against it.

White blood cells and antibodies are cells that have the purpose of fighting bacteria and viral infections. Whenever a dangerous foreign microorganism enters the body and it starts an infection the central nervous system sends the antibodies destroy it. Multiple sclerosis confuses the central nervous system and makes it send the white blood cells against the myelin. They attack it and then the nerves become defective. In time, multiple sclerosis completely blocks the nerve signals and seriously affects the senses.

Multiple sclerosis' causes are not entirely known. Researchers are still studying what the causes of the antibodies attacks are. MC may have a genetic cause but this is not sure yet. We must wait for future discoveries in order to find out more about the causes.

The symptoms of multiple sclerosis are very different from one patient to another, depending on what senses are affected.

Here is a list of general symptoms that may appear:

-complete or partial temporary loss of vision. Vision often gets blurry or double.

-confusion, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, tremor, abnormal movement, balance loss

-muscle atrophy and spasticity

-hand or leg paralysis

-incoherent speech

These are just a few of the symptoms, each patient presents particular symptoms because there are a lot of nerve endings in the body and each one can be affected and shows a different symptom.

Unfortunately there is no known cure that can permanently eliminate multiple sclerosis. Tests have shown us that there are a few therapy methods that give some results, but researching is still made to discover an effective treatment. The treatments done nowadays aim relive the symptoms and the acute sclerosis attacks, but the illness can't be eliminated from the body.

Since we still know too little about how the brain works we can't do much to fight or prevent multiple sclerosis, so we can only hope that the future will bring good news in this domain.