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Essays on autoimmune diseases
Multiple sclerosis and how it affects people
Essays on autoimmune diseases
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Multiple sclerosis, also known as MS, is one of the humankind’s most mysterious diseases. Multiple sclerosis has the ability to affect nearly 3 million people worldwide. This disease tends to be more common in individuals of northern European descent and women are more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis as men are. Of those 3 million people, most of them are between the ages of 20 and 50 years old. Even though multiple sclerosis is a mystery disease, scientists are working to determine the exact cause and treatment.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that involves the different areas of the central nervous system, the brain, and spinal cord. It damages the myelin sheath, the material that surrounds and protects the
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It is also estimated that approximately two and half million people are living with the disease... The name multiple sclerosis refers to the scars that are present in the brain and spinal cord is seen on an MRI. An autoimmune disorder is where a person’s immune system mistakes its own white blood cells as invaders and begins to attack itself damaging healthy body tissue. In these types of disorders, the immune system cannot tell the difference between healthy cells and antigens, which are foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. Because of the damage, it does to the nerve cells; nerve signals can either slow down or stop completely. Inflammation, or the body’s reaction to infection, is what causes this nerve damage to happen. Multiple sclerosis is most commonly seen in the brain, optic nerve, and spinal cord and often leads to physical and cognitive …show more content…
Physical and occupational therapy may also help. Multiple sclerosis is not a fatal disease. Most people with MS have a normal or near-normal life span and usually die from the same conditions that affect general population (heart disease, cancer). Multiple Sclerosis symptoms can negatively affect the quality of life. Suicide rates among patients with multiple sclerosis are higher than average. The majority of patients with MS do not become severely disabled. Women tend to have a better outlook than men. MS has long been known, yet diagnosis remains difficult due to the complexity of the disease and its wide array of signs and symptoms. Treating MS still relies on symptomatic relief, but therapeutic advances in the form of DMDs have shown promising
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease affecting the myelination of the central nervous system, leading to numerous issues regarding muscle strength, coordination, balance, sensation, vision, and even some cognitive defects. Unfortunately, the etiology of MS is not known, however, it is generally thought of and accepted as being an autoimmune disorder inside of the central nervous system (Rietberg, et al. 2004). According to a study (Noonan, et al. 2010) on the prevalence of MS, the disease affects more than 1 million people across the world, and approximately 85% of those that are affected will suffer from unpredictably occurring sessions of exacerbations and remissions. The report (Noonan, et al. 2010) found that the prevalence of MS was much higher in women than in men, and that it was also higher in non-Hispanic whites than in other racial or ethnic groups throughout the 3 regions of the United States that were studied.
What is scoliosis? Scoliosis is a musculoskeletal disorder that causes the back to curve sideways like and “S” or a “C” and cause the body to lean to one side. Scoliosis can eventually if not looked into and not treated colid with your bodily organs like your heart, lungs, and kidneys. This can cause you to slump down into a hump and cause it hard to breath and do physical activity.
What is Multiple Sclerosis? Ms is an Autoimmune disorder. When the disorder progresses the nerves will be damaged and so the damaged is caused by inflammation. Another thing is the cells that were protected by a layer will be damaged as well. So when you have the damaged cell this will lead to the brain and the spinal cord. So that is what MS is.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is generally thought to be an autoimmune disease that attacks the myelin sheaths, or oligodendrocytes that cover nerve axons in the central nervous system (PubMed Health 2013). This immune response causes inflammation, which triggers immune cells to destroy axons “along any area of the brain, optic nerve, and spinal cord” (PubMed Health 2013). When the myelin sheath “is damaged, nerve signals slow down or stop” thus hindering the propagation of action potentials and limiting function (PubMed Health 2013).
According to National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. The central nervous system (CNS) comprises of the brain and the spinal cord. CNS is coated and protected by myelin sheath that is made of fatty tissues (Slomski, 2005). The inflammation and damage of the myelin sheath causing it to form a scar (sclerosis). This results in a number of physical and mental symptoms, including weakness, loss of coordination, and loss of speech and vision. The way the disease affect people is always different; some people experience only a single attack and recover quickly, while others condition degenerate over time (Wexler, 2013). Hence, the diagnosis of MS is mostly done by eliminating the symptoms of other diseases. Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects both men and women, but generally, it is more common in women more than men. The disease is most usually diagnosed between ages 20 and 40, however, it can occur at any age. Someone with a family history of the disease is more likely to suffer from it. Although MS is not
Primarily, the term MS refers to a chronic disorder that attacks the central nervous system (CNS). It is most common in temperate continents such as Europe and Australia with Asiatic and African continents having a lower risk of the disease (Wiley Online Library, 2013). A search organised by the Multiple Sclerosis Society (2013) has estimated that there are 127,000 people living with MS in the United Kingdom. Further research by Chipps, Clanin, and Campbell (1992, pp. 158-167) shows that MS disorder more likely affects women than men with its symptoms occurring between the ages of 20 and 40 in most cases and is quite uncommon in childhood and old age. The nerve cells known as neurons in the brain constantly transmit and receive signals. They invoke emotions, activities and cognition that constitute the day to day experiences of humans. Under normal circumstances, these signals travel on a protected insulation path known as the myelin sheath. This insulation is vital as it enables signals to reach their target. In Multiple Sclerosis, the myelin sheath gets disintegrated causing the nerve fibre to be damaged leading to a disruption in the abili...
The clinical picture of the disease is rich and variated. Usually it starts with motor symptoms together with visual disturbances. The later progression is depending on the part of the CNS affected. MS can present itself in several clinical courses with the relapsing remmitting beeing the most common in the begging. The secondary progressive course is a sequent and gives a much worse prognosis. The benign form, even though it’s not well defined, is usually a random find in MRI and no clinical symptoms. In the most severe cases MS can lead to death.
Multiple sclerosis is an immune mediated disease, although many researchers argue it is an autoimmune disease. MS causes the body to create an abnormal immune response to the Central Nervous System (CNS). The CNS is the body’s processing center. It consists of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. The axon of these nerve cells are coated with a myelin sheath, a fatty substance that surrounds the nerve endings. This sheath protects and insulates the axons allowing electrical impulses to pass freely from one nerve cell to the next. MS causes the body’s immune system to produce T-cells that pass from the bloodstream and into the central nervous system. The T-cells directly attack the nerve cells as if they were a foreign substance. They destroy the myelin coating around nerve fibers. When any part of the myelin is damaged scar tissue forms around the nerve ending. This demyelination and scaring causes lesions on the nerves. The lesions prevent impulses from traveling throughout the body and hinders the body’s response to afferent and efferent signals being sent to and from the brain.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect many different systems in your body. There are several types of lupus and each can affect the body’s systems differently by varying degrees. The bodily system most effect by lupus is the immune system. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, which means that the body’s immune system attacks its own bodily cells and tissues. This triggers a non-specific response resulting in inflammation and tissue damage. In a person who has lupus B-cells and T-cells become hyperactive. Lupus also causes deficiency in the regulatory T-cells which control the immune response system. This causes a large increase in the production of autoantibodies which attack the body’s own cells. 1.5 -2 million people have been
Lymphedema is a chronic condition that is the collection of lymph underneath the skin leading to abnormal swelling on the body that can damage healthy tissue. It commonly affects an arm or a leg, sometimes both arms and both legs, and it can also affect the trunk, breast, neck, and genitals. Lymphedema occurs when there is damage, removal, or blockage of the lymph nodes or vessels causing improper drainage of lymph fluid.
Mumps, also known as parotitis, is a infectious disease discovered by Ernest William Goodpasture and Claude D. Johnson in 1934. Symptoms may be swollen and painful salivary glands, a fever, headache, fatigue, and appetite loss (Mayo Clinic). This disease started off affecting the armies during their mobilization. More than 50% of soldiers during WW1 were hospitalized for the infectious disease. During this time they didn’t have a vaccine, which means it infected the body more seriously than it does now. It used to cause hearing loss and even deafness (wasn't as common). The mumps infection sometimes lead to meningitis to most men.
Multiple sclerosis can be defined as an inflammatory, autoimmune, and demyelinating complex disease of the central nervous system (Kidd, 2001). More common in women than men, the disease can strike at an early age, "especially when reproduction is a major consideration" (Sadovnick, Guimond, & Dwosh, 2001 p374). It is known to be the most common cause of "neurological disabilities in young adults" (Kidd, 2001 p540).
only ones at risk of this disease.Men,women and adolescents can be at risk as well. In
Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory disorder pertaining to the spine that primarily affects young males; symptoms include fatigue, a stiff neck, and pain in the hips and lower back which can be discerned using x-rays and MRI scans. The cause of this disease is unknown, though it is speculated that genetics play a factor; individuals who possess a particular gene called HLA-B27 have a higher risk of developing ankylosing spondylitis. Laboratories can test the blood to detect the HLA-B27 gene or signs of inflammation, though this is not a conclusive method for diagnosing ankylosing spondylitis. With this disorder, cartilage in the joints diminish within the spine causing spinal disks to calcify – this fuses the vertebrae
Scoliosis is a deformity that occurs when the spine becomes abnormally curved and sideways. The angle of the curve may vary, from small to large, but is considered scoliosis if the angle measures more than 10 degrees. In most cases, the cause of scoliosis is unknown. These cases of unknown scoliosis are considered to be idiopathic. If the scoliosis does have a clear cause doctors consider it to be structural or nonstructural. Structural scoliosis causes the spine to be curved and rigid. It cannot be reversed. In nonstructural scoliosis the spine is normal, but looks curved. Problems such as muscle spasms, and different lengths of one’s leg can cause this. This type of scoliosis will go away when the problem is corrected. Other causes are neuromuscular conditions, birth defects, and injures to the spine. Congenital scoliosis begins while the baby is developing in the womb, before birth. Degenerative scoliosis begins in adulthood as the disks and joints in the lower back begin to wear out. Signs and symptoms of scoliosis include uneven shoulders,