Multiple sclerosis (MS) is unpredictable and can affect any body area. The symptoms of MS can gradually worsen over time or come and go. They include fatigue, mobility and balance problems, muscle spasms, pain, numbness, stiffness, and cognitive difficulties.
Currently, patients can use medications and lifestyle changes to manage symptoms and slow disease progression.
What Is MS?
MS is a condition that affects the central nervous system, causing disruptions in the flow of communication between the brain and the body. Primarily impacting the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord, MS causes a breakdown in the nervous system, which is the body’s information highway, controlling everything you do.
What Causes MS?
Unfortunately, the cause of MS is still unknown. However, the condition is an autoimmune disease, which somehow triggers the immune system to attack the central nervous system. This attack damages the protective coating around the nerve fibers, myelin.
The unprotected nerves lead to a disruption in signals, which is why the symptoms of MS are so unpredictable. MS can affect memory, movement, and mood. Every patient with MS has a unique experience with the disease’s progression.
What Is Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine, also known as stem cell therapy, harnesses the body’s natural healing response, targeting the root cause of a disease or injury. Stem cells are essential to healing, as they’re the only cells in the body that can divide infinitely and differentiate to create specialized cells instead of more stem cells.
Stem cell therapy extracts dormant stem cells and inserts them into the area of the body where the damage occurred. Since stem cells have unique anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties, they can soothe regions of pain and injury while working to repair and replace specialized cells.
How Can Stem Cells Help MS?
Stem cell therapy for patients with MS aims to manage the immune response attacking the myelin and reduce inflammation. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society determined stem cell therapy to be a promising condition management option for patients with aggressive relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) or who haven’t had success with other treatments.
Most patients who have undergone stem cell therapy for MS report stability in the condition, reducing the progression of symptoms. Many studies are underway examining the benefits of mesenchymal stem cells for those with MS.
This post was written by a medical professional at Stemedix Inc. At Stemedix we provide access to Regenerative Medicine for multiple sclerosis, also known as stem cell for multiple sclerosis. Regenerative medicine has the natural potential to help improve symptoms sometimes lost from the progression of many conditions.