--Multiple Sclerosis is causes the demyelination of axons in the spinal cord and brain. This is a result of loss of oligodendrocytes and scarring of white matter in the nervous system. Also, demyelination in MS is inflammation caused by an autoimmune response. The inflammation prevents proper recovery and repair of axonal myelination.…
When a person has multiple sclerosis, their own immune system attacks its tissue ("Mayo Clinic", 2013). The patients name is Myelin, which I guess has some significance since a fatty substance that coats nerves known as myelin is destroyed by the disease("Medical News", 2013) . This an electrically insulating material that surrounds the axon of a neuron; it is necessary for the proper function of the nervous system ("Medical News", 2013). When myelin is destroyed, it affects the entire nervous system causing important messages to become slow or blocked entirely ("Medical News", 2013). So in a patient with MS , this would cause them to experience muscle spasms or complete lack of…
It was 1868 when Dr. Jean Charcot discovered hardening of the plaques during an autopsy he was performing. He called it “Sclerosis in plaques,” also known as Multiple Sclerosis and today that affects more than 2.1 million people worldwide. MS is a chronic autoimmune disorder caused by the destruction of the myelin sheath that covers nerve fibers in the CNS. Myelin is the insulator of nerve conduction and it allows the signals to travel at fast speeds. During MS, demyelination occurs causing the nerves to fire at a slower rate than usual, making them fatigue more quickly. People with this disorder often have a variety of symptoms including problems with vision, strength, balance, coordination and sensation. Most people start developing symptoms between the ages of 20-40 with a higher occurrence happening in woman over men.…
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that attacks women between the ages of 15 and 40. It occurs less often in men than in women. The people affected by lupus vary depending on the country or region. In the US alone, the prevalence rate is highest among Asians of Hawaii, blacks of Caribbean origin, and Native Americans of the Sioux, Arapahoe, and Crow tribes. Lupus is a disease that affects the immune system. We can think of the immune system as an army within the body with hundreds of defenders (known as antibodies). They defend the body from attack by germs and viruses. In lupus, however, the immune system becomes overactive and creates antibodies that attack healthy tissues in the body, such as: the skin, kidneys, lungs, heart and brain. This attack induces inflammation, causing redness, pain, and swelling. It is not contagious. Symptoms come and go and vary from person to person. The symptoms can develop so slowly that the person may not notice for a long time. When the lupus symptoms are evident, they are called flares or relapses. When the symptoms are better, it is said that they are in remission.…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive and complex neurological disease, MS is an autoimmune disease of the central…
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (2007) MS Society of Canada - Research We Fund Retrieved from http://mssociety.ca/en/research/researchprojects.htm…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease of the central nervous system; it is characterized by demyelination of axons in the brain and spinal cord, with axonal damage or destruction. 1 MS affects predominately patients aged 20-40 years. The symptoms of MS vary, depending in part on the location of lesions within the CNS. Common symptoms include sensory disturbances in the limbs, optic nerve dysfunction, pyramidal tract dysfunction, bladder or bowel dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, ataxia, and diplopia.2 Although there is large variability in symptom manifestation and disease progression, MS is still the most common cause of non- traumatic disability in young adults and is associated with an average reduction in…
Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is an upper motor neuron disease that is only one of a larger group of motor neuron diseases. More specifically, with PLS the upper motor neurons that are affected are located in the arms, legs and face, which also directly is related to the order in which the disorder begins to affect the body, starting with the muscles in the leg, moving up to the speech and swallowing muscles. Although PLS is not a fatal disorder, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, it can cause symptoms such as, “weakness, muscle stiffness and spasticity, clumsiness, slowing of movement, and problems with balance and speech.”…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that is characterized by inflammation and a variety of neurological symptoms and lesions disseminated in both time and space. MS has traditionally been thought to be primarily a T-cell mediated disease, however, more recent studies implicate B cells in the pathogenesis as well (Knippenberg et al 2011). Additionally, low vitamin D levels is a modifiable risk factor that is associated with development and progression of disease activity (Munger et al 2014). Recent studies aim to address whether there is a connection between hypovitaminosis D and immunoreactivity in the pathogenesis and progression of MS.…
After a long night out in town Alfonso was ready to call it quits. His friends were saying his speech was slurred, as expected after a few to many beers. He decided to go home take a shower and get some sleep. One of his friends drove him home as Alfonso mumbled that he could have driven home. Once home Alfonso took a shower and checked his email before finally falling asleep. It was around 10 A.M. before Alfonso finally got around to waking up. With a splitting headache Alfonso thought, “Great another hangover”. What Alfonso didn’t know was that that day was the end of life as he had known it and the beginning of a new stage in his life. The first thing he noticed was that he couldn’t see out of his left eye. He had always worn glasses to correct his vision, but he did not see blurred out of it-he did not see out of it at all! What was going on? Why couldn’t he see? Did something happen to him last night? He felt for his eye and it was still there; he quickly went to the mirror and as far as he could tell everything looked normal. Apart from the splitting…
Carla is a 30 year-old-female college professor who was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. She presents with complaints of diplopia, ataxia, fatigue, muscle spasms, and muscle weakness. The patient is married and has 2 children, ages 6, and 8 years old. Her husband is a pilot for a major airline and is away from home often. The patient says that over the past several months her symptoms have been getting worse requiring that she miss time from work. She also reports feeling overwhelmed by her job and family obligations.…
the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. There are many diets out there that can help reduce…
Multiple Sclerosis is a “chronic inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system” (Susan B. O’Sullivan, Physical Rehabilitation, p. 776). Multiple Sclerosis is a “disease where your body attacks itself, specifically the fatty coating called the myelin sheath on nerves in the brain, spinal cord, and eye area” (2016 EMD Serono,…
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, progressive, degenerative, auto immune disorder of the central nervous system characterized by the disseminated demyelination of the nerve fibres in the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves (Lewis, 2014). The protective covering of the nerves, known as myelin, is attacked by the disease, causing inflammation and damage ("Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada," 2015). Myelin is made up of Schwann cells, and facilitates the transmission of nerve impulses. According to Canadian Medical Surgical Nursing there are 5 different types of multiple sclerosis, relapsing-remitting, benign, primary-progressive, secondary progressive and progressive relapsing (Lewis, 2014). Relapsing-remitting is the most common type of Multiple…
Multiple Sclerosis was first recognized as a specific disorder in 1873 in England. By the end of the century, after careful observation, most of the symptoms and some causes were known. In MS the immune system attacks the myelin of the bone that covers the nerve fibers. The MS can also attack nerve cell bodies which are located in the brain, it specifically influences the spinal cord, brain, and optic nerve. This then causes difficulties in communication between the brain and the rest of the body. The majority of the patients with MS are women with north European descent. Most of the country recognizes the name but most don’t understand the specifics of the disease. This disease is constantly being researched and studies about…