| When the myelin becomes damaged, there is an interruption to the
normal flow of nerve signals and impulses. This typically causes symptoms
in those areas which are innervated (supplied by the nerve). For example,
if the damage occurs to an area of the brain or spinal cord related
to movement, this may cause incoordination or loss of movement. Should
the damage occur to an area of the central nervous system related to
sensation, then this may cause numbness or strange feelings on the skin
such as tingling.
Although myelin does have the capacity to regenerate, this is usually
very slow to occur.Damage to the myelin causes the body to
produce an inflammatory response, in a similar way to that seen
when the skin gets scratched.
This results in the formation of scar tissue at the site of damage
and in the same way that scarring of the skin can be permanent if the
damage is severe enough, scarring which occurs due to damage to the
myelin can also be permanent.When a scar forms due to damage
to the myelin, the body is generally unable to completely repair
the tissue to its former undamaged state since the regeneration
of myelin is comparatively slow and therefore the scarring eventually
becomes permanent and leads to malfunctioning of the area of the body
corresponding to the interrupted nerve impulses.
For example, if a scar; more often referred to as a lesion
or plaque, forms and interrupts the normal flow of nerve
impulses from the sensation of touch in the fingers, then this can
cause someone to drop things since the flow of feedback nerve-impulses
from the fingers is interrupted.The same process can occur regarding
any area of the body and so the range of different symptoms which
multiple sclerosis can cause is very varied although there are some
symptoms which are more common than others; for example, optic neuritis.
Although multiple sclerosis
cannot be cured, there are some treatments available which can help
slow the progression towards disability in some patients.
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