Lesions

[suavydee]

I have had multiple schlerosis for about 10 years and I no that i have lesions can they eventually damage my brain cells ?Can lesions kill me?

[jenphilly]

MS doesn't typically kill you...  its more just a pain to live with.  The statistics show that on average a person with MS will only have a shortened life span of about 5 years.  Not sure the years covered in those statistics and would believe with the new meds and more understanding today, those 5 years are out the window and MS complications won't shorten a lifespan by a day!  

As JJ explained above and is correct, its not lesions like damage to your brain, its the covering of the nerves that gets damaged and what shows up as lesions...  think of taking an electric cord and cutting chunks out of the protective coating.  Sooner or later you will get down far enough to impede the electricity running along the wires....  those cuts are comparable to the damaged myelin and when the path for the nerves is damaged or affected, you get either slow traffic or possibly a deadend.  But the amazing part of our nervous system is that the nerves will setup detours and try to find new ways around.  

Jen

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome to our little corner of the web, if you havent done so yet, please have a look at our health pages (found just to the right of your screen ) you'll find most of the answers to your questions there, well worth the time to have a read through.

As for you question, i'll just have to admit to being a little confused on how to answer it, because technically brain cells also naturally die, we have about 100 billion neurons in our brains. Up until recent times, damage to the brain was said to be pretty much it, but science is finding the brain is rather rejenerative (look up brain plasticity) to a certain extent and if it can rewire or get around the damage it will, though thats not going to happen without a lot of repeditive focused training.  


Ok (in very basic lay terms) unlike lesions caused by a stroke, where basically a cluster of brain cells die, MS lesions are demylinating so its more about disrupting and eventually destroying the myline  which is the outer layer the signals travels through. Lesions can become black holes, which is basically a dead end, not all lesions completely cut off all signal by becoming black holes, though why some do and others dont is still unknown.

So in a round about way, cells can as a result of demylination be damaged though as I said not in the same way that happens if a person has a stroke. Death in MS isn't common in most forms eg RRMS, though classed as 'rare' it can happen in certain situations. If you have a look at the health pages, i'm sure there are some that delve into this topic.

I hope i helped and not confused you with my simplistic explanation :o)

Cheers...........JJ

PS. you've actually posted on the weekend and its commonly quieter so you may not get many responses.