It’s important to know how to define Demyelination in order to get an in-depth understanding of Segmental Demyelination. Demyelination is a condition or disease where the immune system attacks the nervous system, damage is done to the protective substance over the nerves known as myelin and this impairs the transfer of signals across the nerve. Many functions can be affected, such as sensation, mobility, balance and cognitive functions.
Segmental Demyelination is basically the same as normal demyelination, but may occur in a variety of patients other than MS sufferers. People with diabetes and Crabbe’s disease can also display signs of segmental demyelination.
Symptoms of segmental demyelination
The main symptoms that are displayed when any form of demyelination occurs are as follows:
Visual – Blurred vision, usually in the central field of view and or double vision, which affects only one of the eyes. Pain may also be felt in the eyeballs when moved.
Sensation – Strange sensations, such as numbness or tingling may be felt in the legs, arms, face or chest.
Muscle Weakness – This usually occurs in the arms and legs and causes difficulty with coordination, movement and balance.
Cognitive – Speech difficulties, such as slurred words and memory loss can occur.
Sensitivity – Sensitivity to hot and cold can be impaired, usually leaning toward the side of heat sensitivity.
B & B – Bowel and bladder movements can be affected and this can result in difficulties to control waste expulsion from the body.
Fatigue – In most cases fatigue will appear.
Although these are the main symptoms, there are others minor ones as well. The behavior of these symptoms will differ from person to person.
Treatment for demyelination
Once you are able to define demyelination and segmental demyelination, the next thing is to find out more about the treatment, which is not an easy task. In some cases a patient may respond well to steroid or physiotherapy and on others it may have no effect. This mainly depends upon the kind of symptoms the patient is having. Since muscle weakness is one of the side effects, regular exercise to re-strengthen the muscles is highly important. Using exercise to prevent further loss of strength has proven to be successful.
The treatments can only slow the rate of decay, however if the condition is one that has times of activity and remission where the body gets the time to repair itself, then these treatments can have a massive and positive impact on the individuals quality of life.
