TwistedHelix wrote:This article prompted a probably-irrelevant thought: within a few years of diagnosis, both Mum and I lost much of our sense of smell...does this sound familiar to anyone?
Dom.
Interesting Dom and I can't add anything except that my wife hasn't noticed anything of the sort.
I notice that paper is dated mid February and I read similar information about that same time.
What I considered at the time was possible significance to brain atrophy, what most people consider "permanent" damage.
In the end it might be found that I view MS processes too simplistically or it might be found that everyone else made it too complicated, but the example of atrophy which comes to my mind is when my brother broke his forearm in a school bus accident. His arm was in a cast for months and when the cast finally came off his arm was 1/4 the size of his other arm. I asked the doctor about it and he said that his arm had atrophied from lack of use and that with enough time and enough use the arm will look just like the other one. The doctor was right.
When I was young and got caught doing something dumb with my buddies I remember Dad telling me "if your buddies jumped off a bridge, would you?" Dad simply meant that just because people whose opinions you value believe or do something, does that mean that you have to buy into it?
I saw great wisdom in Dad's reasoning and since then it's been obvious to me that strength in numbers plays no part in determining fact. Looking back in history there is example after example in which the "experts" have made their announcements and the population has bought into it hook, line and sinker.
In other words, the entire population of the world has been wrong many, many times.
Despite expert opinions, we now know that the world is not flat, our heads won't explode if we travel over 20mph, the moon isn't made out of green cheese.
Despite popular opinion it's likely that with reconnected circuits to put those areas of the brain in use again, brain atrophy is reversible.
To get back on topic, things like what you've posted add to my hope.
Bob