Human Physiology/The Nervous System

21

Because different nerves are affected at different times, MS symptoms often worsen (exacerbate), improve, and

develop in different areas of the body. Early symptoms of the disorder may include vision changes (blurred vision,

blind spots) and muscle weakness. MS can progress steadily or cause acute attacks (exacerbations) followed by

partial or complete reduction in symptoms (remission). Most patients with the disease have a normal lifespan.

There are different types of MS

Multiple sclerosis is classified according to frequency and severity of neurological symptoms, the ability of the

CNS to recover, and the accumulation of damage.

Treating Depression

Every now and then we all feel a little blue, these feelings can be caused by losing a loved one. Clinical depression

goes much further than just feeling down. Depression has many symptoms, including lack of energy, abnormal

eating habits (either too much or too little) and sleeping problems (also too much or too little). Often a person can

feel worthless and have thoughts of committing suicide. The cause of depression and its symptoms are a mystery but

we do understand that it is an illness associated with biochemical changes in the brain. A lot of research goes on to

explain that it is associated with a lack of amines serotonin and norephinephrine. Therefore pharmacological

treatment strategies often try to increase amine concentrations in the brain.

One class of antidepressants is monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Mono amine oxidase is a enzyme that breaks down

your amines like norephinephrine and serotonin. Because the antidepressants inhibit their degradation they will

remain in the synaptic cleft for a longer period of time making the effect just as if you had increased theses types of

neurotransmitters.

A newer class of antidepressants is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's). With SSRI's decreasing the

uptake of serotonin back into the cell that will increase the amount of serotonin present in the synaptic cleft. SSRI's

are more specific than the monoamine oxidase inhibitors because they only affect serotonergic synapses. You might

recognize these SSRI's by name as Prozac and Paxil.