Written by Adena Harford, December 2011
What is the conventional understanding of Multiple Sclerosis? What is the cause?
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). MS manifests when the myelin sheath created by the oligodendrocyte cells (cells which support neurons) along the axon of a neuron is damaged. MS can only effect oligodendrocytes, not Schwann cells. This means MS only effects the central nervous system not the peripheral nervous system. A damaged area along the axon is called an ‘MS plaque.’ When the myelin sheath is damaged, depolarization is slowed down or even stopped along the axon, and nervous system impulses can not be transmitted correctly. The demyelination occurs in different places throughout the body in different patients, and symptoms often come in episodes called ‘attacks.’ Often symptoms can improve partially or completely, but then they may reoccur later in another attack.
Continue reading Multiple Sclerosis: Understanding the Disease through Western Medicine and Ayurveda