What is Dyemilinating disease & myasthenia gravis and its cause?!
Question: Demyelinating diseases are conditions in which a covering over the long processes of neurons deteriorate. It's usually an auto-immune process, which means that the person's immune system attacks part of their own body causing the nerve cells to not work properly. The most well known demyelinating disease is multiple sclerosis.
Myasthenia gravis is also an auto-immune disorder, but in this case the immune system directs its mis-guided attack at the point where neurons join with muscle cells, causing weakness.
So, to wrap it up, demyelinating diseases (with some exceptions) and myasthenia gravis are both auto-immune disorders, caused by the immune system attacking the body rather than pathogens.
Extra info for Laurie M: Most people get some atrophy of the brain as they age, so that's not necessarily an abnormal finding on your mom's MRI. It's also pretty difficult to say definitively that any lesion on an MRI is a demyelinating lesion, because these lesions look a lot like other problems you can have in the brain, too. Some types of dementia have specific patterns that can be seen on MRIs, but others don't have any visible structural changes as all. Demyelination isn't usually associated with causing dementia to my knowledge. The rate at which dementia progresses depends a lot on what type of dementia it is. I know those are some pretty vague answers, but without being to see the scans and know more specific information it's difficult to provide better answers.
Answers: Demyelinating diseases are conditions in which a covering over the long processes of neurons deteriorate. It's usually an auto-immune process, which means that the person's immune system attacks part of their own body causing the nerve cells to not work properly. The most well known demyelinating disease is multiple sclerosis.
Myasthenia gravis is also an auto-immune disorder, but in this case the immune system directs its mis-guided attack at the point where neurons join with muscle cells, causing weakness.
So, to wrap it up, demyelinating diseases (with some exceptions) and myasthenia gravis are both auto-immune disorders, caused by the immune system attacking the body rather than pathogens.
Extra info for Laurie M: Most people get some atrophy of the brain as they age, so that's not necessarily an abnormal finding on your mom's MRI. It's also pretty difficult to say definitively that any lesion on an MRI is a demyelinating lesion, because these lesions look a lot like other problems you can have in the brain, too. Some types of dementia have specific patterns that can be seen on MRIs, but others don't have any visible structural changes as all. Demyelination isn't usually associated with causing dementia to my knowledge. The rate at which dementia progresses depends a lot on what type of dementia it is. I know those are some pretty vague answers, but without being to see the scans and know more specific information it's difficult to provide better answers.
a question for the Doc? so, with the demyilinating and myasthenia gravis, and Rhuematoid arthrits, my 70 year old mother is now diagnosed with dementia, MRI shows that she has demyelanating disease in the brain, atrophy of the brain , and some previous infarcts (but not lately) Does the demyelinating disease cause dementia, and how fast does this usually progress. She was getting so bad with anxiety, and confusion going into pshycosis. Doesn't look promising , a recovery. Is there anything to get the demyelanating disease stopped?