Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Its Causes

Causes of MS

This disease is an autoimmune disorder in the human body. This condition means that the cells of the body’s immune system, which normally attack bacteria, viruses and other things like them, in this disease attack the person’s own body. When the disease becomes active, parts of the immune system, mainly those called T cells, attack the myelin sheath of the nerve, which surrounds the nerve fibres in the brain and the spine. This condition causes small patches of inflammation and damage on this sheath.
Certain factors probably cause the immune system to become activated and to function incorrectly. One theory put forward in this regard points to the presence of a viral agent or other environmental factors. These factors can affect the condition of some people whose immune system has a particular genetic make-up, and cause them to become afflicted with this disease.
With affliction by the disease, the inflammation created around the covering or membrane of the nerve causes the damaged nerve fibres to be unable to carry out their proper function, and in this way the symptoms of the disease progress. When the inflammation created in this covering is recognized by the body, the damaged myelin sheath may be repaired and healed by the body. In this way the nerve fibres begin their activity again.
In any case, inflammation or renewed damage can create small lesions (sclerosis) in the myelin membrane and permanently cause damage to be inflicted on the nerve fibres. In some people afflicted with this disease, several small areas of lesion form in the brain and the spine. These lesions are sometimes called plaques.

How the disease progresses

Three general patterns can be observed in people afflicted with this disease, as described below; in this case certain periods can be observed:

Relapsing and remitting symptoms

in which the symptoms of the disease relapse (when the symptoms suddenly intensify) and are then followed by improvement of the symptoms (periods of recovery). Between relapses of the disease the patient’s condition is generally stable and their situation does not get worse. This type of symptom is seen in most cases at the onset of the disease. About half of the patients who face this pattern of the disease gradually enter the second stage of disease progression (which is explained below) over time.

Primary progression of the disease

In this pattern the symptoms of the disease gradually intensify and continue. In this way periods of improvement or recovery can no longer be observed in the patient’s condition.

Secondary progression of the disease

Some people who at first faced relapsing and remitting symptoms of the disease gradually face the loss of the body’s neurological function. This condition may be accompanied by intensification of the symptoms or may be without it. If the disease relapses in these circumstances, it is referred to in technical terms as the relapsing-progressive type.

Ways of diagnosis

Almost all the symptoms of this disease can also be observed in other diseases. For this reason it is sometimes difficult to be certain of affliction with this disease (at the time of its first relapse). As a result, a definite diagnosis of the disease is often not possible until two or more attacks have occurred.
Some tests can be useful in diagnosing affliction with the disease and can indicate possible affliction with it, or may identify the reason for the symptoms observed in the patient. These tests include an MRI scan, a lumbar or spinal puncture (involving sampling of the cerebrospinal fluid in the spine), and also the evoked potential test, in which electrodes check whether the electrical pulses of particular nerves in the cerebrospinal system have slowed down or whether any unusual pattern is present.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy can be effective for designing movement exercises to meet the particular needs of the patient and to restore their ability. In this case the physiotherapy specialist can recommend exercises to the patient in which the focus is on particular areas of the body and on helping the patient to control particular complications of the disease. Physiotherapy can reduce many of the symptoms of this disease and effectively help the patient to improve.

These approaches can play an effective role in the following:

• Problems maintaining the body’s balance
• Movement problems of the body
• Feelings of fatigue
• Choosing suitable daily exercises to improve the patient’s condition
• Pain relief
• Improving weakness
• Teaching ways of conserving energy
• Learning better ways of moving and of carrying out daily activities

In this case the patient may start physiotherapy immediately after the disease is diagnosed and then continue physiotherapy sessions when necessary. At the first meeting the physiotherapist talks with the patient about their symptoms and examines how they carry out various activities. Following this, the physiotherapist can, according to the patient’s condition, prescribe suitable exercises for them and teach the patient how to perform these exercises at home.
In later physiotherapy sessions other things are taught to the patient, such as stretching exercises in order to prevent or reduce muscle spasm