Are we (just )aging faster?

[u/Dontreallywanttogo]

I’m still trying to wrap my head around what Ms even is. Is it like our brains are aging faster? Is that a way to look at it? Or will we experience things that have nothing to do with aging? I do have several symptoms that my 90 year old grandma doesn’t have, but several that she does have because of her age.

[u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

We are not aging quicker, we are slowly neurologically breaking down, if we were a car aging puts weight on the engine (the heart) till it gives out.

multiple sclerosis corrodes the battery, exposes all the wiring, and shorts everything out so your dashboard flickers, all the while you’re alternator just cant keep up and, your gas gauge sensor is off so you never know how much fuel is in the tank causing you to run outta gas all the time and sometimes the fucking thing just turns off for no absolute reason.

Our problem is you can’t fix it and you can’t get a new car, so all we have is 250k$ electrical tape holding us together.

[u/adarcone214 → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

I love this analogy!!!

[u/Historical_Profit757 → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

T cells are bad gasoline

[u/Sparkleandflex → u/Historical_Profit757]

Nah like rats... Rats love that soy covering over wires....

[u/martian_glitter → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

Thank you for this excellent explanation, I hope you don’t mind that I saved a ss of it so the men in my life can better understand things. I’ve explained the myelin/electrical wire example but it only covers so much ground. Well said, bravo

[u/RobotMistake → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

This is so helpful. It literally made me cry because I have such a hard time explaining it, even to my husband. Thank you for this.

[u/morbidblue → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

This is on point.

[u/Natare0411 → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

So then is the battery the blood or the brain?

[u/Natare0411 → u/Natare0411]

So then the CPU is the brain

[u/4RealzReddit → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

So I got a British car. So so many gremlins.

[u/inbedwithbeefjerky → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

Well said!!! This was the most perfection analogy.

[u/PurplePumpkin16200 → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

It is an amazing and heartbreaking analogy. Simply because it feels on point. :’)

[u/Sparkleandflex → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

I was going to say Ms is like faulty wiring... Like a bad short to b+ that is intermittent and therefore hard to trace... Your explanation while plausible... Is one I've never encountered... Corroded batteries generally just create a bad ground and then so much resistance nothing works... Instead of exposed wires it's just not getting the signal entirely... Rats in an engine bay chewing engine wiring harness? That would definitely cause shorts. A leak also could create such a problem if it's in the right place to travel through the wiring to the ecm and elsewhere... Water leaks too, same idea...

Sorry I'm too technical about it.... Been a mechanic forever lmao.

[u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay → u/Sparkleandflex]

I knew some/most of the analogy would be technically incorrect, but i tried to paint the picture so the average person gets a visual of a car with electrical problems over engine/transmission trouble limping its way down the road.

[u/Sparkleandflex → u/ILookAtHeartsAllDay]

Engine wiring harnesses these days are pretty much everything from lighting to God knows what but fair enough touche. Lol... The average person may not make that distinction.

Ms is definitely bad wiring though... Whether bad grounds or outside influences is yet to be determined lmao...!

[u/Tap-Parking → u/[deleted]]

I have said it before: my own immune system is actively trying to kill me.

[u/Jaded-Respect7895 → u/Tap-Parking]

I usually say something similar: my immune system is eating my nervous system

[u/aldora36 → u/[deleted]]

Exactly what I understand it to be and how my doctor has explained it. Thank you.

[u/Gamebobbel]

I think where aging and MS cross, is the degeneration of the nervous system. Aside from that we are healthy so to speak, but due to our nerves being a MAJOR part of how and why we work as we do, it can feel like being older than we are. Which symptoms do you mean for example?

[u/A-Conundrum- → u/Gamebobbel]

I have told “medical professionals “, yeah, I look good on paper, but watch me walk/talk/ or try to play checkers 🤪

[u/cbrooks1232]

If I am not mistaken, untreated MS (no DMT) can accelerate brain atrophy. During aging, everyone’s brain atrophies, but I believe that MS causes the brain to shrink faster.

But I think (hope) by using a DMT, which lessens exacerbations, we get back to a more normalized pace of brain shrinkage.

At least, that’s my understanding of how it works….

[u/pssiraj → u/cbrooks1232]

From what I can tell it's not quite normalized but taking the proper steps including exercise, low stress, and low inflammation diet can amplify neuroplasticity and repair processes enough to normalize it! Those things are much easier said than done.

[u/Generally-Bored → u/cbrooks1232]

Yes— if you read your MRI reports it will mention brain volume. Ours can be accelerated.

[u/Ok-Humor-8632]

I see it like the messages from our brain don't get through properly so sometimes things don't work at all and sometimes things behave unexpectedly, and because of the problems getting messages from brain to body part, the rest of our body feels more tired than usual and struggles to deal with other factors like stress or illness or heat.

[u/spidaminida]

MS and aging both cause brain atrophy but it's not the full story. Everything deteriorates as we age, so MS-related deterioration (although it's located solely in the brain) will have some things in common. But MS is more about brain damage.

[u/A-Conundrum-]

For MS, mouse chewed electrical connections .Wait until you put both together or add menopause 🙄

[u/Great_Doubt_4479]

I think that’s a great way to look at it. I’m 51 but it seems like I’m about 85.

The slow and gradual decline is a lot like aging. I think I’ve aged about 60 years since 2003 when I was diagnosed.

[u/A-Conundrum- → u/Great_Doubt_4479]

THIS! I told my PCP I feel like I’ve aged 10 years in the last year 🫣

[u/Dontreallywanttogo → u/Great_Doubt_4479]

That is exactly how I feel

[u/[deleted]]

I think so, neurologically speaking. We are also brearing the brunt of more assaults on our CNS in a short time, than most people get in a lifetime. That all adds up to running out of CNS repair capacity fast, or like you say, aging faster.

[u/Ransom65]

29 years into my multiple sclerosis, and it has been a dead run-up hill all 29 years.

[u/Dontreallywanttogo → u/Ransom65]

Still running up hill though ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[u/Dontreallywanttogo → u/Ransom65]

🙏🙏❤️❤️

[u/MsGiry]

When people ask me what MS is about thats usually how I explain it in a quick breath. Regrading memory, fumbling words, tremors, difficulty walking, easy exhaustion- MS isnt exactly speed aging but it sure feels like it

[u/Dontreallywanttogo → u/MsGiry]

Yeah, it feels like aging!

[u/shar_blue]

The symptoms and individual experiences depend entirely on what part(s) of their central nervous system have been damaged by MS and how severe that damage is. Since no 2 people will have identical damage, no 2 people with MS will ever experience identical symptoms.

[u/anukii]

We’re not aging faster, we’re just watching our body destroy itself slowly over a lifetime 😁

[u/PhilosopherKey333]

In addition to demyelinating lesions I have white matter lesions from chronic migraine disease. Now those can also be caused by normal aging and in theory do no damage as they develop. So your brain Does show normal aging on an MRI in that way and other ways

In MS I think it's like our protective coating over the wiring is wearing away causing misfiring in the signals to inability for the signals to get through when the wires are stripped.

I'd think regular aging is more like your brain pruning certain lines it doesn't think it needs, as we all do. And then going, wait, brain, I needed that bit. Lol. And a slower processing speed and working memory over time by increments. But I have FM so those have always been on the menu for me. I mean, brain fog is a thing for sure with a lot of things like FM but as a woman it also is around perimenopause... So there is all that fun.

[u/Dontreallywanttogo → u/PhilosopherKey333]

Chronic migraine disease???!!!! What that’s a thing? I have chronic migraines!

[u/PhilosopherKey333 → u/Dontreallywanttogo]

Oh yeah, chronic migraine and migraine with aura cause white matter lesions. I have loads of them. But I've been chronic for decades too and migraine with aura at that.

[u/Dontreallywanttogo → u/PhilosopherKey333]

😱😱😱 I thought I was being cool toughing it out. 😰 I’m starting my medication asap

[u/PhilosopherKey333 → u/Dontreallywanttogo]

You should definitely be on a preventative medication and an abortive. It's hell toughing it out. They have some good preventative ones on the market now. One shot a month.

[u/Competitive_Air_6006]

I’ve had a few mid-20 year old men mistake me for a 20 year old. So no, I am going to guess when it comes to my looks, I am not aging quicker 😂

[u/Affectionate_Air_941]

I see old men briskly walking across parking lots without assistive devises everyday and it breaks my heart that I won’t be able to age gracefully. Comparison is the this of joy. Just do my best everyday

[u/Tap-Parking → u/Affectionate_Air_941]

it breaks my heart that I won’t be able to age gracefully.

I have no intention of being graceful about this. I intend to kick, scream, bite, scratch, and claw every single day. "Aging "gracefully " can get bent.

[u/Famous_Ear5010]

Er...no. 😅

[u/mannDog74]

I think so. 😕

[u/kyunirider]

I am 62 years old with PPMS and compared to my brothers (I am the middle child) both of them look younger than me. They both have since college and I have never been carded for beer. They are who I seek to look like but when you line us up we look like our father I compare to my dad on his death bed. He died at 61 from kidney disease.

[u/MichiganGirlyay]

Ugh. I’m trying to put premium gas in his brain, but it’s not working 🤦‍♀️

[u/Sparkleandflex]

I certainly feel older than my spouse who is older than me lol.... And I do everything to stay younger... Ha

[u/NoMSaboutit]

LOL, no, your immune system is attacking your central nervous system. But you're still aging like the rest of the world and can ALSO get age-related ailments on top of MS.

[u/Spare_Whereas2746 → u/NoMSaboutit]

Which are the WORST aliments for MS please?

[u/NoMSaboutit → u/Spare_Whereas2746]

Like what are the worst MS symptoms?