Multiple sclerosis - A mostly misunderstood nerve disorder

Today is World MS Day. This day should draw attention to a frequently misunderstood illness: Multiple sclerosis is not a mental disorder and also no muscle wasting, but a nervous disease.

multiple sclerosis
The disease overrides the body's immune system and damages the central nervous system. Cells, which are usually used to ward off disease, get out of control and attack molecules in the brain and spinal cord. This ignites the nervous system.

Multiple sclerosis damages the central nervous system. (Image: decade3d / fotolia.com)

The misguided defense cells destroy the insulating layers of the nerve fibers and, therefore, the tissue hardens. As a result, the information paths of nerve cells to the brain are blocked.

symptoms
Nervous disorders are manifest as paralysis, visual disturbances and feelings of numbness in the arms and legs. Affected see everything "as if through a veil" or twice: multiple sclerosis is often recognized by the ophthalmologist for the first time. Afflicted mumble, they are slightly exhausted, their moods fluctuate without external cause, the sick forget many things.

But all of these symptoms also apply to many other disorders and also expressed MS in each affected differently - just multiple: Some suffer "only" with twitching of the hands, others sit after years of severe disability in a wheelchair and can only move the head and neck , But that only affects one in twenty MS patients.

The disease usually begins with significant relapses and then goes into a creeping process in which the overall condition continues to worsen.

Incurable
The disease is incurable. Associated with the creeping course, unpredictable episodes and the prospect of someday sitting in a wheelchair, the diagnosis of MS for sufferers is a bad news.

New therapies
Although MS can not be cured, treatment has progressed in the last 20 years: Especially with an early diagnosis, the course can be alleviated and slowed down today.

Cortisone and blood washes help with acute episodes, while other drugs successfully stabilize the immune system.

Currently, doctors are testing medications that are supposed to cure nerve fiber sheaths. Some experts have high hopes for nanomedicine: nanoparticles in medicine to repair damaged nerve tracts. A current groundbreaking study promises help: Plant peptides can stop MS progression.

Physiotherapy and occupational therapy help sufferers to manage disabilities caused by the disease: gait disorders can be remedied through training, for example, and spasticity can be relieved by relaxing the muscles.

Occupational therapies even help those affected if nerve fibers are destroyed by a push. The patients learn to train healthy nerves, for example, to perform certain movements of the fingers again.

New therapies aim to combat MS symptoms with Yoga and Aquafit.

who is affected?
Around 2.5 million people around the world suffer from MS, 200,000 in Germany, about three times as many women as men. Why women are more likely to develop MS than men is still unclear in the mystery of MS.

causes
The nervous disease is still a white spot on the medical map. However, most scientists agree that several factors must work together before this neurological disorder develops. Possible triggers include an imbalance in the bacterial balance of the gut, previous infections and a vitamin D deficiency. Genetic dispositions are present, but MS is not a hereditary disease. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)