For everyone our nervous system sends messages to all our body parts telling that part how act and when to act, via a network of neurons and axons.  In MS the axons are what the body’s immune system attacks.  We could compare an axon to an electrical wire.  Electrical wires are covered by an insulating layer of rubber.  The axons are covered by a fatty protein called, myelin, the whole length of myelin along the axon is called the myelin sheath. 

As we all know, an electrical appliance with a frayed cord, such as a lamp, may or may not turn on when the switch is turned. If the cord is badly frayed there is even less likelihood that the lamp with light up at all.  With lamps we are lucky, as the cord can be replaced.

When the myelin sheath is damaged our body parts do not always act as they should, sometimes everything is fine, sometimes we have strange symptoms, and sometimes we have complete relapses, also called attacks or flare-ups.  With the lamp we don’t always know what will happen when the cord is frayed.  MS patients have similar experiences when the myelin sheath has been damaged or destroyed by our own immune system, leaving the axon exposed.  During a relapse, people with MS do not always know what symptoms will be present, nor do they know how long those symptoms will last.

There are different types of MS and various therapies that help MS patients.  I will write about these at a later time.

Bailie