Syrian actor Yahya Bayazi aroused a state of sympathy and support on social media, especially in the artistic community, after appearing in a live broadcast with his colleague, actor Wael Sharaf, in a delicate health condition and suffering from difficulty speaking.
Bayazi did not confirm the nature of his disease, but Arab media, including “ET” in Arabic, indicated that he has multiple sclerosis, which raised questions about the nature of this disease, its symptoms and methods of treatment.
What is multiple sclerosis?
Also known as “multiple sclerosis” (MS), the disease is an unpredictable central nervous system disease in which communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the United States.
Many researchers believe that MS is an autoimmune disease, in which the body, through its immune system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues, according to the institute.
In MS, the immune system attacks the “myelin” that covers the nerve fibers of the human body and these attacks may be related to an unknown environmental trigger, possibly a virus.
Professor of Neurology and Multiple Sclerosis at Ain Shams University, Dr. Iman El-Marakby, talks about “the immune disease causing a defect in the delivery of commands from the human brain to the muscles”, which causes a problem in the patient’s body.
In her interview with Al-Hurra, she points out that “the repercussions of the disease depend on the place in which the immune inflammation occurs, and if this occurs in the place responsible for movement in the human brain, a weakness in movement may lead to paralysis.”
If the optic nerve inflammation affects the patient, the patient will suffer from vision problems, and if this occurs in the cerebellum, the patient will suffer from imbalance, according to her speech.
Symptoms of the disease?
Most people experience the first symptoms of MS between the ages of 20 and 40, and it is often “blurred or double vision, red-green distortion or even blindness in one eye,” according to the institute.
Most patients with multiple sclerosis have muscle weakness in their limbs and difficulty with coordination and balance, and these symptoms may be severe enough to impair walking or even standing, according to the institute.
Signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis vary widely, and depend on the amount of nerve damage and which nerves are affected, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
Some people with severe MS may permanently lose the ability to walk, while others may go through long periods of coma without any new symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The disease can cause permanent nerve damage or deterioration, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
In the worst cases, MS can lead to partial or complete paralysis, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Causes of disease?
Dr. Eman El-Marakby has multiple causes of multiple sclerosis, including hereditary factors due to the fact that one of the family members contracted the disease, and other genetic factors combined with the environment.
With regard to environmental factors, they are “a lack of vitamin D in the body, smoking, lack of regular exercise, viral infections that the body deals with wrongly, and obesity,” according to Al-Marakbi’s hadith.
Women are more likely to contract the disease than men, with a ratio of 3 to 1 as a result of hormones, according to Al-Marakbi’s talk.
Is there a cure for the disease?
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis completely until now, however, treatments can help speed recovery from attacks, modify the course of the disease and treat symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Al-Marakbi notes that the disease is “chronic” that can be alleviated by continuing treatment continuously, and it may be for life, and if the patient does not comply with this, he may experience a “relapse.”
She stresses that there is no “a definitive cure for the disease”, but at the same time she points out that “there are recent studies on the possibility of stopping the patient’s treatment if his condition improves and there are no relapses and infections.”