Multiple Sclerosis, more commonly known as MS-disease, is a disease which damages nervous system and while it is not directly lethal it still has many side effects which lead to noticeable deterioration in the quality of life.
MS has a very wide range of symptoms including fatigue, visual disturbances, balance problems and altered sensations. This is because the disease leads to injurious changes on the nervous system. The cause of the disease is not known albeit genetic changes are suspected to be a partial cause. The disease itself is not contagious.
Our brain contains white matter in which myelin is a substance. Its task is to insulate nerve endings and enable the signals to move smoothly in, out and within our brain. Demyelination means the (partial) loss of myelin. Demyelination causes the passage of pulses to suffer greatly which leads to the symptoms.
Multiple Sclerosis is not an easy disease to diagnose because the symptoms vary heavily from one patient to another. Often the patient has to live in an uncertainty for a long period of time until proper diagnosis is made and treatment can be started. With MRI scanner it is possible to confirm the presence and extend of the lesion and by processing the images with computer valuable information can be recovered.
For more information about MS the reader is encouraged to see: National Multiple Sclerosis Society's web pages.