

Sy believes it’s important for doctors to walk through the McDonald criteria with patients and show, step by step, how it matches up with the diagnosis. Evidence of two or more lesions disseminated in time and space (multiple areas of damage that occurred at different times)ĭr.Elimination of other potential diagnoses.Progressive-relapsing MS (PRMS): This is a combination of progressive disease from the outset, but you also have clear relapses or times when symptoms are intensified, according to Cedars Sinai.You no longer have clearly defined relapses and remissions. Secondary progressive MS (SPMS): This means that you started out with RRMS but have transitioned to a progressive form of the disease, you will have a more steady progression of nerve damage or loss.Primary progressive MS (PPMS): This means that from the onset of your MS symptoms, you’ve experienced disease progression without clear relapses and remissions.According to the National MS Society, about 85% of people with MS have RRMS at diagnosis. Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS): This type of MS involves clearly defined relapses in which you experience symptoms, followed by remissions in which symptoms improve or go away entirely.Not many people fall into CIS now because most are diagnosed with MS based on the 2017 McDonald criteria.” (More on this later, but trust us, it has nothing to do with a Big Mac). Over time, the CIS population has really shrunk. “You don’t have recurring attacks that define MS. “In CIS, you have a clinical symptom, commonly optic neuritis (vision loss), but don’t quite meet the criteria for MS,” Dr.



Going back to that same example, you want to walk across the room, but now your right leg won’t move without great effort or your balance is off, and you veer off course. When the protective coating is damaged, those electrical impulses can’t get through as easily or quickly, leading to all sorts of potential neurological symptoms. MS is the most common demyelinating disease, according to the Mayo Clinic. Inflammation due to MS can damage myelin, a process known as demyelination. For example, you want to walk across the room and barely give it a thought-you just do it. Nerve cells carry messages throughout the body so you can see, move, and think with little effort. Think of it as a protective sheath, a kind of insulation that allows the smooth transmission of electrical impulses along the nerve cells, according to the U.S. Myelin is a naturally occurring mixture of protein and fatty substances that form around nerve fibers in the central nervous system. To explain demyelination, we first need to talk about what myelin is and what it does. First, it’s important to understand what demyelination means.
