How close are we to a cure for multiple sclerosis?

My mum has always been a very active woman. In MS, for reasons that are still pretty unclear, the immune system gets confused and starts to destroy the oligodendrocytes, and especially the myelin sheath.” When the myelin sheath comes off the nerve fibre, two things happen: “The nerve fibre can’t conduct impulses as efficiently, so the whole thing slows up, and secondly because the myelin sheath protects the nerve fibre, it is very vulnerable without it and so the nerve fibre itself may degenerate,” he says, adding: “If this happens they are gone forever.” It is this degeneration that underpins the later progressive phases of the disease. He explains: “What we did was we took aged rodents, we induced a little area where they lost their myelin and gave metformin, and it accelerated the speed of healing – so much so that it was indistinguishable from a young animal.” open image in gallery Joan Didion’s neurologist reportedly advises her to ‘lead a simple life… not that it makes any difference we know about’ It was a major triumph, says Professor Franklin, who is clearly very excited. Wendy Hendrie, a specialist MS physiotherapist, says: “When people start to have problems with their legs or balance, their brain will automatically ‘cheat’ by finding quicker ways of doing things. They might or might not involve my arms or legs, they might or might not be disabling.” Didion writes that her neurologist advises her to “lead a simple life… not that it makes any difference we know about.” Although we’ve made significant strides in understanding the disease since then, it is a conversation my mum recognises from her own visits to specialist MS nurses, which she admits she finds “pointless” due to the lack of answers they can give her.