Multiple Sclerosis

What is Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple Sclerosis (abbreviated MS) is an autoimmune disease which affects around 100,000 people  in the UK, it was first diagnosed in 1849, which essentially doesn’t have a cure. It is an example of a chronic autoimmune disease, during which the patient's own immune system mistakes myelin for a foreign body and attacks the cells. MS targets neurons that are responsible for the creation of thoughts, sense perception, and the communication between the different parts of the body. It occurs due to demyelination of the fatty myelin sheath that surrounds axons in nerve cells. This demyelination prevents the propogation of action potentials between the Nodes of Ranvier this essentially leads to the loss of communication between nerve cells and results in the loss of muscle function giving symptoms such as vision, balance and bladder issues. 

Physical Symptoms

• Changes in sensation
• Muscle weakness
  
• Abnormal muscle spasmps
  
• Difficulty with movement or balance
  
• Difficulty with speech
  
• Difficulty with vision
  

Approximately 2.5 million people worldwide have MS. “MS is twice as common in females as it is in males, and it is usually diagnosed between the age of 20 and 40, however there have been cases where MS has been found in children and in the elderly” .

Cognitive Symptoms

• Loss of memory recall
• Loss of attention

Studies have shown that up to 50 to 66% of multiple sclerosis patients will experience some form of cognitive dysfunction