Multiple Sclerosis

Is MS Hereditary?

Genetic factors are recognized as playing a role in MS. This is not to say that they cause MS. Although MS is typically a disease of people of European ancestry,...

What Causes an MS Plaque?

The typical MS plaque seen in patients who have died early in their illness or who have had brain biopsies is composed of a mixture of lymphocytes with many more...

Do Antibodies Cause MS?

For a long time, antibody was considered to be a likely cause of myelin damage in MS, but the theory fell into disrepute. More recently, there appears to be stronger...

What is Autoimmunity?

Autoimmunity is an immune reaction against “self.” Autoimmune disease implies that tissue damage is a result of an autoimmune (autoallergic) reaction. This may be the result of antibody production or...

What Is The Role Of The Immune System In MS?

A great deal of evidence has been accumulated over the last several decades that abnormal immune reactions against myelin proteins can be detected in patients with MS. Although antibodies to...

Is Chlamydia A Cause Of MS?

Chlamydia pneumoniae and, more recently, Acineto-bacter are other organisms that have been implicated by other research. The chlamydia (C. pneumoniae) that is being studied is not the organism that commonly...

What Is The Importance Of HSV-6 In MS?

Currently, a great deal of interest is in the newly recognized family of viruses known as HSV-6. This virus family is distantly related to HSV-1 (the cold sore virus) but...

What Does Herpes (Virus) Have To Do With MS?

The herpes families of viruses are DNA viruses that once inside our bodies persist for the rest of our lives. Although herpes simplex type I (HSV-1) and type II (HSV-2)...

Do Viruses Cause MS?

The onset of an acute demyelinating disease (postinfectious encephalomyelitis) occurs after a number of different infections such as measles and mumps as well as smallpox vaccination. About one quarter of...

What Causes MS?

There is no simple single answer to the questions “what causes MS?” or “why do some people get MS?” Over the last century and a half, three important inter-related contributing...

Will I Regain My Bladder Control?

The loss of bladder function occurs in a proportion of patients. With acute attacks when control of voiding is lost, recovery follows promptly. However, from several older studies of patients...

Is Memory Affected With MS?

Memory can be affected by MS. Confusion can accompany attacks and can be associated with memory difficulty, but this is not defined as true memory impairment. It is associated with...

Why Do Some People Get Worse So Quickly? Will I?

There are probably many reasons why some people worsen more quickly than others. Stress is implicated in many other diseases, and without question, it plays an important role in MS....

How Long Will It Be Before I Will Be Disabled?

Recently, there has been speculation that disability in MS patients will be predictably present after several years of illness. Some have claimed that there is no difference between various patient...

Do All People With MS Become Disabled?

Some neurologists, many in academic circles, have a perception that MS is predictably associated with dis-ability. Before the advent of new testing procedures, particularly MRI of the brain and spinal...

Who Gets Progressive Disease Without Attacks?

At first, my response was to assume that the person who asked this question was simply asking about the definition of this type of illness. However, he was actually asking...

What Is Spinal MS?

Spinal MS was a term used for primary progressive MS but has not generally been used for the last 30 years or so. It was a good descriptor for this...

What Is Chronic Progressive MS?

Both secondary progressive and relapsing progressive MS were referred to as chronic progressive in the past. The term chronic progressive is no longer used. Primary progressive patients were also sometimes...

If I Have Relapsing-Remitting MS, Can I Get Progressive?

Patients with relapsing-remitting illness have attacks of one or more symptoms with varying frequency and with variable degrees of recovery but do not progress between attacks. Relapsing-remitting MS patients have...

What Kinds of MS Exist?

To most physicians dealing with MS and many patients, this illness seems to be a family of closely related disorders. To begin with, a doctor’s clinical diagnosis of MS is...