Final Stages Of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is a neuro-muscular disease which simply means that the nerves and muscles are both equally involved. Multiple Sclerosis causes nerve cells in the Central Nervous System to degenerate slowly and gradually. This causes the voluntary muscles that they control to stop responding. The nerves in the brain and spinal cord are completely covered by a myelin sheath. This cover would act like the cover on electrical wires so as to keep the energy passing along the nerves.

If the sheath is damaged then the nerves cannot function properly. Just as an electrical wire will spark as well as short if the cover is frayed or even broken. In Multiple Sclerosis, the immune system attacks the covering of all the nerves and causes the signal to the muscles to have a short circuit. As the damage progresses, the body gradually loses control of all the muscles. The course of the disease is marked by remissions and also relapses.

Multiple sclerosis causes gradual loss of the muscle control. Weakness, muscle tremors and difficulty with speech may be one of the earliest symptoms. The first episodes may be so mild that only the person involved would be able to notice them. Because the disease goes into remission followed by a number of relapses, the early episodes may not be diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis.

As the disease progresses people with Multiple Sclerosis lose their ability to move their arms, hands and legs. Physical therapy and assistive devices allow patients to slowly remain mobile even after the disease begins to affect their limbs. Speech muscles are also affected and speech therapy or speech synthesizers and computers are often used in order to keep the communication channels open.

In the final stages of this disease the muscles needed to breathe stop working and respirators may be used to maintain lung function for as long as it is possible. The available data would suggest that there are multiple causes of multiple sclerosis. The risk of developing Multiple Sclerosis if one family member is affected is relatively not that much. There have been studies where one identical twin develops Multiple Sclerosis and the other remains absolutely healthy.

The risk of getting Multiple Sclerosis depends on a very complex and yet a not well understood interaction of the genetic and environmental factors. One of the environmental factors is actually the distinct geographic pattern. What the other factors are is not yet known at this point. Researchers continue to study the disease so that they can isolate these factors. While there is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis, there have been advances within the treatments and medications used in order to slow down the progress of the disease.

Other drugs in clinical trials are also showing positive results. Complementary and alternative therapies such as diet and nutritional supplements and acupuncture are also available now-a-days. Some of these remedies are known to be quite helpful with the underlying disease, but most focus on relieving the discomfort of the symptoms. With current treatments, the expected life span of someone diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis is close to an average and also the quality of life is also vastly improved.

• Emma Bullock
• 25/05/2009, 9:59 AM
• 0 Comments