How multiple sclerosis affects the nervous system

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that damages your nervous system, ultimately causing symptoms to appear. We’ll discuss in this mini blog how exactly this happens, as well as things used to manage the progress of its deterioration.

Let’s break down how MS does this.

MS damages the myelin sheath

Put in layman’s terms, MS is where your immune system gets confused with what is and isn’t a threat (instead of attacking foreign bodies, it begins to attack your own nervous system). As a result of this, the body’s defences tear away at the protective myelin sheath which protects the nerves that travel from your brain to the rest of your body.

These nerves carrying important messages across the body then become exposed which can distort the signal, leading to MSers experiencing symptoms. The effect the disease has on the nervous system ultimately influences a person’s experience with MS.

The symptoms caused

There are a plethora of symptoms caused by MS as a result of damaged nerves, but we thought we’d share just a handful of the most common ones.

Visual symptoms

This symptom is often one of the first identified by people who are newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Conditions such as optic neuritis and uveitis can both cause blurred vision and general discomfort.

Cognition

Struggling to process what people have just said to you, or forgetting important things more often can be signs of reduced cognitive function.

Fatigue

This isn’t just a tired feeling – it’s to the point where you feel so exhausted that you struggle to do anything.

Things used to slow down its progression

New treatments to help with MS are always being developed, and there are two things we’d like to mention that relate specifically to slowing down the disease’s progression.

Remyelination

This is the process where the myelin sheath on the brain and spinal cord repairs the damage done by the immune system. As the sheathe goes back to how it should be, it means that symptoms of MS are not as severe and experienced less.

There are many studies done to try help encourage this, but it has been shown that some disease modifying therapies can play a role in the process.

Disease Modifying Therapies (DMTs)

One study found that a DMT called Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (BTK for short) can encourage remyelination thanks to its ability to go after specific immune cells that damage the sheath. This isn’t readily available yet in terms of DMTs on offer, but it’s good to know that progress is being made to help people with the disease.

We have a whole information session dedicated to the topic of remyelination, in addition to other resources that we think you’ll find valuable. Just click the buttons below to learn more!