Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and neurodegenerative autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks myelin, the insulating cover of nerve cells, causing damage to the central nervous system. This impairs the nervous system's ability to transmit signals. Dr. Bermel shares four potential signs and symptoms you should never ignore. 1. Painful vision loss in one eye. A common early sign of MS is optic neuritis, painful vision loss caused by inflammation in the optic nerve (the nerve that connects your eyes to your brain). Messages move along the pathways of your nervous system at a speed that’s almost unbelievable. You probably don’t think about this invisible rapid transit system, but it dictates your thoughts, movements and other body functions. When you have multiple sclerosis (MS), this transit system goes awry. The pathways it relies on grow unstable and unreliable, like faulty train tracks. The damage. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune condition that affects your brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). Policy. With MS, your immune system mistakenly attacks myelin cells. These are the protective covers (sheaths) that surround your brain and spinal cord nerves. Multiple sclerosis is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the protective covering of the nerve cells in the brain, optic nerve and spinal cord, called the myelin sheath. And this sheath is often compared to the insulation on an electrical wire. Learn how to create and manage teams and channels, turn on language translations, and share files. Learn how to transition from a chat to a call, manage calendar invites, and use background effects. Save time by using Copilot in Teams to get highlights from your chats. People with multiple sclerosis (MS) tend to have their first symptoms between the ages of 20 and 40. Early on, the symptoms get better, but then they come back. This is called relapsing-remitting. Multiple sclerosis affects 2.5 million people worldwide, including 400,000 Americans. Get in-depth multiple sclerosis information here on symptoms and treatments of MS. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disorder affecting the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerve (the nerve connecting the eye to the brain). It is one of the most common disabling neurological diseases affecting young adults. MS symptoms usually begin in young adults, between ages 20 and 40. MS affects people differently. A small number of people with MS will have mild symptoms with little disability, but others will experience worsening symptoms that will lead to increased disability over time.