Question: What is Multiple Sclerosis

Malgorzata Dabrowska answered on 8 Nov 2020:

Hi Michaelp,

You can imagine that neuron in its shape more or less looks like a tree. The “trunk” of the neuron is called the axon. Trunk has a bark around, and axon also has its “coat”, it is called the myelin. Neurons are communicating between each other by sending electrical signals. So our myelin is very important at the moment, when the electrical signal is travelling throw the axon: myelin is preventing the impulse to be lost on its way and thanks to it the signal can pass to the next neuron, and next, and next… This way your brain is giving the orders to different parts of your body. For example, you want to walk from your chair to the kitchen to grab some snack. So you are thinking about your movement, of how to do it. Your brain is sending the signals through neurons to your body so you can do the action that you planned. Everything is happening soooo fast, that you are not thinking about it consciously even.

Now imagine a garden hose. When it’s new, water can go through and you have a big stream of water at the end. But if you’d make some holes in the hose, water will start leaking and at the end of the hose you won’t get the full stream like before, but only a part of it, or if the hole are huge maybe even no water. This is happening when myelin is damaged. The signals are being lost on its way, so communication between neurons is not so good. The full information sent by your brain of what to do is not reaching the end destination. This is Multiple Sclerosis. It is starting by worsening the ability of walking for people who have this disease. Neurons in your feet are the furthest from your brain, so if the myelin is broken they are getting the littlest amount of signal or even none. When the disease is developing, more and more neurons can’t get the signal, so the person has roubles with walking, then grabbing things, etc., what is leading to disability.