Stem Cells: A New Frontier in Multiple Sclerosis Treatments
When was the last time you walked half a kilometer? Or climbed a flight of stairs? Or even navigated a crowded footpath? Many people find these tasks a simple part of everyday life. It’s probably something that you can do without a second thought, without any mental or physical preparation to handle the task. But for people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) simple tasks like these are an everyday challenge. MS affects anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 people in India, many of who are relatively young. It’s a chronic disease that never really goes away. But while it can’t be completely cured, it can be treated in a variety of different ways. Stem cell therapy is a recent addition to this list, and a good option for many patients. Here’s what you need to know if you’re considering stem cell therapy in bangalore to treat this disease.
What is Multiple Sclerosis?
MS is a chronic, autoimmune disease that affects the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves in your eyes. It can lead to problems with vision, balance, muscle control, and basic bodily functions. MS occurs when the body’s immune system starts attacking myelin — a fatty material that protects the nerves in the affected areas. This leads to a variety of visible and invisible symptoms, and no two people with the disease experience it in the same way. A person living with MS might face some or all of the following symptoms:
What is Multiple Sclerosis?
MS is a chronic, autoimmune disease that affects the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves in your eyes. It can lead to problems with vision, balance, muscle control, and basic bodily functions. MS occurs when the body’s immune system starts attacking myelin — a fatty material that protects the nerves in the affected areas. This leads to a variety of visible and invisible symptoms, and no two people with the disease experience it in the same way. A person living with MS might face some or all of the following symptoms:
- Trouble walking
- Feeling tired
- Muscle weakness or spasms
- Blurred or double vision
- Numbness and tingling
- Sexual problems
- Poor bladder or bowel control
- Pain
- Depression
- Focus or memory issues
- Urinary tract infections
- Pneumonia
- Physical trauma (from falling)
- Pressure sores
- Misdiagnosis or partial diagnosis (based on symptom presentation)
Medical professionals are not completely sure what causes MS, and there seem to be many factors involved. This includes age, genetics, and environmental factors, such as smoking or exposure to viral infections. However, oddly, we have found that most people who develop the disease don’t exhibit any of the risk factors. What we do know is that a majority of people who do have the disease are under the age of 40, are twice as likely to be women than men, and often have a close genetic relative with the disease.
How do we treat multiple sclerosis?
While we can’t yet cure MS, we can treat the symptoms to make sure patients can live their best lives. There are various treatments that can really make a difference to quality of life. Physical therapy can help patients deal with mobility issues that come with the disease, and there are immunosuppressant medicines available that can reduce the frequency and intensity of the symptoms. Other popular treatments include occupational and speech therapy. These helps combat social obstacles and optimize lifestyles at home or in the workplace. Doctors will often recommend psychotherapy as well, since depression often comes hand-in-hand with the disease. However, a newer treatment is making the rounds in the medical community — stem cell therapy. With stem cell therapy, we take autologous adult stem cells from bone marrow and use them to treat the disease at a biological level.
Stem Cell Therapy and Multiple Sclerosis
Stem cells are a special type of young cell found in various parts of the body, like bone marrow and fat. These cells are not hardcoded to grow into a certain type of cell, and are instead influenced by their environment. That means that stem cells can become muscle cells, brain cells, fat cells, or anything else the body needs at the time.
Stem cell therapy uses the transformative and regenerative nature of the cells to repair damaged areas in the body at a cellular level. In the case of MS, this means using the cells to rebuild the immune system and repair the damaged nerve cells. In the first case, doctors will weaken the existing immune system and introduce fresh cells to replace the overactive ones already in the body. This reduces the likelihood of the immune system continuing to attack nerve cells, preventing the disease from worsening. Stem cells can also be used to repair the damaged nerve cells, but this is usually done along with the first method to prevent the immune system from attacking the freshly repaired cells.
People with MS can live full and complete lives even with this chronic illness. But stem cell therapy can go a long way in mitigating the symptoms that most affect their lifestyle. If you or a loved one lives with this condition, it may be time to consider this procedure as a way to enrich your life.
Looking for stem cell therapy in Bangalore? We at Plexus do our utmost to make sure each patient is suitable for the treatment, and that the whole process is as safe and comfortable as possible. Visit our website to know more.
How do we treat multiple sclerosis?
While we can’t yet cure MS, we can treat the symptoms to make sure patients can live their best lives. There are various treatments that can really make a difference to quality of life. Physical therapy can help patients deal with mobility issues that come with the disease, and there are immunosuppressant medicines available that can reduce the frequency and intensity of the symptoms. Other popular treatments include occupational and speech therapy. These helps combat social obstacles and optimize lifestyles at home or in the workplace. Doctors will often recommend psychotherapy as well, since depression often comes hand-in-hand with the disease. However, a newer treatment is making the rounds in the medical community — stem cell therapy. With stem cell therapy, we take autologous adult stem cells from bone marrow and use them to treat the disease at a biological level.
Stem Cell Therapy and Multiple Sclerosis
Stem cells are a special type of young cell found in various parts of the body, like bone marrow and fat. These cells are not hardcoded to grow into a certain type of cell, and are instead influenced by their environment. That means that stem cells can become muscle cells, brain cells, fat cells, or anything else the body needs at the time.
Stem cell therapy uses the transformative and regenerative nature of the cells to repair damaged areas in the body at a cellular level. In the case of MS, this means using the cells to rebuild the immune system and repair the damaged nerve cells. In the first case, doctors will weaken the existing immune system and introduce fresh cells to replace the overactive ones already in the body. This reduces the likelihood of the immune system continuing to attack nerve cells, preventing the disease from worsening. Stem cells can also be used to repair the damaged nerve cells, but this is usually done along with the first method to prevent the immune system from attacking the freshly repaired cells.
People with MS can live full and complete lives even with this chronic illness. But stem cell therapy can go a long way in mitigating the symptoms that most affect their lifestyle. If you or a loved one lives with this condition, it may be time to consider this procedure as a way to enrich your life.
Looking for stem cell therapy in Bangalore? We at Plexus do our utmost to make sure each patient is suitable for the treatment, and that the whole process is as safe and comfortable as possible. Visit our website to know more.
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