2024-04-06 20:40:55
“Multiple sclerosis”. Where did the name of this chronic autoimmune disease come from and what are the symptoms?
Autoimmune are those diseases that develop as a result of irregular work of one’s own immune system. Normally, the immune system recognizes foreign cells that have entered the body, for example, viruses, bacteria or proteins, and then begins the process of neutralizing them.
During autoimmune diseases, the body recognizes its own cells as foreign and begins to fight against them, causing a severe fungal reaction with all its consequences. This process continues continuously, that is why these diseases are chronic. The name and course of the disease depends on which cells in the body are recognized as foreign.
In case of multiple sclerosis, the cells of the nervous system are recognized as foreign. They are subjected to fungal infection, after which hard foci, sclerosis, are formed, scattered throughout the central nervous system, in the brain and spinal cord. Hence the name of the disease, multiple sclerosis.
Nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord have long projections that extend to the extremities of the body. These protrusions are covered with a myelin sheath. This membrane ensures the transmission of signals from nerve cells to various organs. During multiple sclerosis, these myelin sheaths are also inflamed and damaged, hardenings, foci of sclerosis, also occur here. In medical terms, this process is called demyelination, as a result of which the transmission of nerve impulses is disturbed. it slows down. It is expressed in the form of clinical symptoms of the disease.
The symptoms of multiple sclerosis are very different, which depends on which part of the brain or spinal cord the hardening has occurred, as well as on which parts of the myelin sheath have been damaged. At the same time, during the progression of the disease, new inflammatory foci develop, which lead to the development of new symptoms.
Multiple sclerosis is called the “disease of a thousand faces” because its course is highly individual. Manifestation of symptoms depends on which part of the central nervous system the inflammatory process and hardenings occur.
Exacerbations can be manifested by walking disorder or its complete absence, visual impairment or complete blindness, speech disorders, numbness in the limbs.
In the initial stages of the disease, it is generally possible to treat these symptoms as much as possible and improve the patient’s condition, but in certain cases residual phenomena may persist. In the most advanced stages of the disease, it is not possible to fully restore the disturbed functions, as a result of which the patient gradually develops disability. For example, vision impairments are partially restored, walking impairments are not restored, etc.
Basically, in patients, the stages of exacerbation are followed by the stages of development with the disease, then the stage of exacerbation comes again, which needs to be treated as quickly and completely as possible. Because multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease, these patients must always receive treatment and be under the supervision of a doctor, which in some cases allows patients to have the most manageable condition and live as full a life as possible.
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