What Is Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, is an autoimmune disorder. Autoimmune disorders are diseases in which the body's immune system misinterprets a normal structure or function of a person's body as an alien object and begins to attack it, causing the disease. Other autoimmune disorders include rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

In multiple sclerosis, the immune system attacks the fatty tissue that surrounds the neurons in the brain and spinal cord. This tissue, called myelin, protects each neuron and allows each neuron to conduct its signals correctly through the brain or spinal cord. When the myelin is damaged, scar tissue, called scleroses, plaques or lesions, are formed. The lesions interfere with the neurons ability to conduct signals, impairing the brain's ability to send signals to the body and impairing the body's ability to function.

What initially triggers this autoimmune reaction that leads to MS remains unknown. Research has focused on the relationship of the immune system to the disease and the fact that it is more prevalent in countries further from the equator where less sunlight is available. This fact points to vitamin D deficiency as a possible factor in the development of MS, as vitamin D is an important regulator of the immune system. Genetic and viral factors are also current areas of research as possible causes of this disease.

MS usually occurs in young adulthood and is more common in women. It occurs more often in people who are Caucasian and live in countries further from the equator.

The primary symptoms of MS include nerve pain and impaired sensation in the extremities. A person may feel a pins and needles sensation in the affected extremity. Muscle strength and coordination may also be affected, resulting in impairments in a person's ability to move. The "drunk walk" may be an early symptom of muscular impairment in a person's legs. Visual impairments, sleep disorders, cognitive changes, emotional labiality or mood swings, and fatigue are also common symptoms. A person with MS may have difficulty regulating his or her body temperature and may be especially sensitive to heat, making the warm summer months difficult to tolerate.

Diagnosing MS is usually done through MRI of the brain to check for the lesions that indicate demylinated areas. These may not always show up in the early stages of the disease, and a person with MS may not always receive this diagnosis right away. MS symptoms are also similar to some other chronic diseases and a physician may choose to rule out other diagnoses first before pursuing an MS course of treatment.

There is no cure for MS, but several medications are known to slow the course of the disease and allow a person to maintain a functional life for years. All of these medications are injectible and a couple must be administered by intravenously by health professionals. Some have flu like side effects. Research is currently working on an effective oral medication, but this is not yet approved for general use.

People with MS are usually able to live a normal life span, but must learn to adapt to the disease and the changes it makes in their bodies as it progresses. Some people may be able to live most of their lives without becoming significantly disabled, while others may lose mobility, sensation, or vision. The course the disease will take is difficult to predict and varies greatly from person to person.

The amount of information available on multiple sclerosis is extensive and support is readily available in most areas. For more information on MS, please visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society at http://www.nationalmssociety.org.

About the Author

Janet Meydam is an Occupational Therapist with 20 years of experience in the field. View her blog, Online OTR, for useful information on a variety of health related topics. http://onlineotr.blogspot.com

Can Activities Ward Off Depression?

There are many different causes of depression, including poor physical health, the environment in which a person lives, lack of a social life, low confidence, and the list continues. Everyone is unique, as are the different types of depression. In fact, there are some people who suffer depression because of genes they have inherited from one or both of their parents, some who suffer it because of a chemical imbalance and others who have depression because they focus too much on the negative. There are treatments for most kinds of depression and studies are still being done to find more, but for some the best treatment would be prevention.

It is quite possible that many people who live with depression could deal with it simply by being more active, and people who are prone to depression could help to ward off depression by being more active as well. Part of it could be due to the fact that when people are bothered by something, they tend to dwell on it and put more focus on it instead of putting focus on other activities. People, who manage to re-direct their attention onto other things, are able to take their mind off of issues that are bothering them and allow them some time to put their mind onto something else, like a sport they are playing or a project they are working on. People who already suffer depression can find this difficult to do, because they feel they have lost interest in things that used to interest them and many feel too withdrawn to bother going out and doing something with friends; however, making the effort to go out and do something can help in pulling someone out of some of their depression. Once they start having some fun, what was bothering them before leaves their current focus and allows them to chance to relax and improve their mood. This is not to say that problems should be avoided, but it is something that can help someone to ward off depression, keep their mind clear and give them a break from the issues, which bring down their mood, that they are working on. People who feel they are depressed should take steps to get themselves out of the depression they may be in, and this includes seeing a counselor who can help.

Thanks to the internet, online counseling is available to help those who are depressed, or who feel they might be falling into depression, who wish to get out of their depression. An online therapist is easily found on the internet by doing a quick search on a search engine. Once a person has contacted an online counselor and told them about their depression, the online therapist will work with the patient to find out what might be causing their depression. Once some possible causes have been found, the online counselor will work with the patient through online therapy to deal with those causes, and while dealing with these issues, the counselor will most likely help the patient find ways to relax and improve their mood by becoming more mentally and physically active.

Jennifer Baxt is the owner of CompleteCounselingSolutions.com which offers a variety of online counseling services. If you would like to know more about Jennifer or any of our online therapists, visit our website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Jennifer_Baxt,_DMFT

How to Treat Your Hair If it is Oily

If you find that you hair is oily then you need to treat this as quickly as possible, because oily hair can sometimes be a little difficult to manage and it does lack volume.

There are some advantages however when it comes to having oily hair, but these very rarely outweigh the disadvantages such as a itchy scalp which ultimately leads to dandruff.

It is often the case that people who have acne generally have oily hair also, why this is the case is still not answered. But the probable answer is that because acne is caused by excess sebum, then there must be excess sebum production on the scalp too and therefore this is what causes the hair to also become oily and very greasy.

So why does the hair become greasy?

Well just like the skin produces excess oils well so to does the scalp, and some people produce more oils than others. There is not much that you can do about it other than to care for the hair on a regular basis with a good shampoo that is suitable for oily hair. You might also want to leave washing your hair until the morning only, because this way, your hair will look much cleaner and fresher as opposed to washing your hair the night before.

Another problem with hair that is oily is that it can have a foul smell and people who have oily hair are often not aware of this. You can often tell that hair is oily by running clean hands through your hair, and then smelling your hand afterwards. There is not a strong smell but it can be noticeable if you are not caring for your hair on a regular basis or just not using the right products.

How you treat hair that is oily depends very much on the condition of your hair for instance if your hair is short, long, black, curly and also if your hair is fine and blonde in colour. One of the reasons that oily hair is very difficult to manage is because the hairs generally stick together, and this can make hair that is curly even more curlier, and it can also make the hair also clump together and it is therefore possible to view the scalp.

The main key to controlling hair that is oily is to essentially remove the oil from the scalp. It is important that you are washing and massaging the scalp and not just the hair.

There are some practical tips that you can and should adopt in order to take care of your oily hair and one of them is not too wash your hair on a daily basis. Washing everyday will strip the scalp of essential oils and therefore the oil glands will need to compensate by producing more oils and therefore there is actually more oils on the scalp.

You should also avoid chemical based skin care products that can cause irritation and even cause itching of the scalp, which in turn can lead to dandruff.

About the Author

Get more information about dandruff hair treatments. Spend time learning about various beauty products and get some information on general dry skin care also.