What is a demyelinating disorder?
What is a demyelinating disorder?
Swanson, M.D. A demyelinating disease is any condition that results in damage to the protective covering (myelin sheath) that surrounds nerve fibers in your brain, optic nerves and spinal cord. When the myelin sheath is damaged, nerve impulses slow or even stop, causing neurological problems.
Is demyelinating disease bad?
Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) causes inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. This can damage myelin and can lead to fever, exhaustion, headache, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes seizures. It can be life-threatening.
What would cause demyelination?
Triggers. Demyelination is often caused by inflammation that attacks and destroys myelin. Inflammation can occur in response to an infection, or it can attack the body as part of an autoimmune process. Toxins or infections can also harm myelin or may interfere with its production.
How do I fix myelin?
Dietary fat, exercise and myelin dynamics
- High-fat diet in combination with exercise training increases myelin protein expression.
- High-fat diet alone or in combination with exercise has the greatest effect on myelin-related protein expression.
What do you need to know about demyelination disease?
Demyelination results from diseases that damage myelin sheaths or the cells that form them. Demyelination diseases should be distinguished from those in which there is a failure to form myelin normally (sometimes described as dysmyelination).
How is spinal fluid collected for demyelination testing?
The fluid often shows signs of infection or inflammatory disease, and the results can be used to assist in the diagnosis of demyelinating conditions. A physician will perform an LP by cleaning an area on your lower back, inserting a needle, and collecting spinal fluid.
How is magnetic resonance imaging used to diagnose demyelinating disease?
Various methods/techniques are used to diagnose demyelinating diseases: Exclusion of other conditions that have overlapping symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize internal structures of the body in detail.
What does demyelinating disease of the optic nerve mean?
Optic neuritis — inflammation of the optic nerve in one or both eyes. Neuromyelitis optica (Devic’s disease) — inflammation and demyelination of the central nervous system, especially of the optic nerve and spinal cord.