What kind of association usually occurs when we hear the phrase "multiple sclerosis"? Most likely, in our imagination, immediately appears the image of an ancient old man, suffering from increased absent-mindedness and sclerosis. However, in reality, multiple sclerosis is not related to senile forgetfulness. On the contrary, this neurological disease is now very common among young people. First of all, it concerns young women. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that can affect any part of the nervous system. Modern medicine, unfortunately, can not yet cure it to the end. This disease can manifest itself in different ways, proceed in mild and severe form - from almost imperceptible numbness of limbs to paralysis, difficulty breathing and blindness. Mathematical calculations show that multiple sclerosis can be accompanied by 685 different symptoms! At the same time, none of these symptoms can be considered special, inherent only in this disease! In this section you will find information on multiple sclerosis, find out why this disease was so called.
How Multiple Sclerosis Is manifested This disease is characterized by the appearance in the white matter of damaged foci in myelin (otherwise known as "holes"), in these foci the connective tissue, also known as sclerotic tissue. Thus, in the body there are foci of "sclerosis". It should be noted that such foci can occur in virtually any area of ??the spinal cord and brain, they are sort of "scattered in space". Therefore, the disease is called - multiple sclerosis.
Foci of sclerosis appear not only in white matter, but also in the gray, in addition to the central nervous system, the disease can encompass the peripheral nervous system (affect the spinal roots and nerve fibers stretching to the face, extremities and all internal organs).
A little information about the structure of the nervous system Let's talk about what is the central nervous system, which includes the dorsal and brain. The central nervous system includes white and gray matter. From the gray matter, the bodies of nerve cells are composed, in turn the white matter is the outgrowths of these cells, having a special fatty membrane called myelin. The processes of the nerve cells stretch from one brain center to another and are connected by electrical impulses. In order to increase the rate of transmission of electrical impulses and to separate the processes of nerve cells from each other, a fatty membrane of myelin is required. Such a system is somewhat similar to the insulation of wires.
How often, in what cases and in which category of the population does multiple sclerosis occur? Among neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis is the third most frequent, with the incidence of it being exceeded only by epilepsy and vascular disease. Among the inhabitants of our country, this disease was detected in several million people. The danger of this disease is that most patients are quite young people. At the same time, multiple sclerosis affects women more than twice as often as males. In the intervals up to 15 and after 60 years, this disease is diagnosed very rarely. I must say that the inhabitants of the northern latitudes receive less energy from the sun than residents of southern latitudes, so they are more likely to have this disease. In Europe, multiple sclerosis is more common than among residents of African countries or, for example, residents of China.
Heredity in this case also plays a role - if one of the parents suffers from multiple sclerosis, then the risk of the disease in the child is great.
Complications of Multiple Sclerosis This disease can result in a disability. As a rule, this happens at later stages of the disease, when after the end of the exacerbation the symptoms remain. However, in some cases, the disease is very difficult from the very beginning, sometimes there is a danger to life - with violations of breathing and cardiac activity.
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