Nearly 1 in 5 patients with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis has been misdiagnosed—the condition can look like other autoimmune diseases with similar brain lesions on MRIs.

Recent research scouring blood samples from 134 people with MS, both before and after their diagnosis, found that about seven years before these patients were diagnosed, there was a spike in a protein called myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein—indicating disease-associated damage to the protective myelin around nerve fibers.

When your immune system targets the nervous system, this can cause new or worsening symptoms and the development of scarring or damage within the central nervous system. Relapsing-remitting MS is the most common type of the disease—it includes progressive bouts of attacks that occur months or years apart.

That's a reference to the scarring or lesions that occur in the brain, spinal cord, and elsewhere whenever the immune system has a flare-up. The immune system attacks the myelin because it incorrectly responds as if it's a threat, damaging the body's ability to transmit electrical signals effectively from areas of the body to the brain.

This occurs due to myelin degradation around the optic nerve, impairing its ability to transmit visual information to the brain. Individuals may especially experience eye symptoms after exercising or taking a hot shower because boosted body temperatures slow down nerve function in nerves already damaged by MS.

This PBS documentary traces a filmmaker's personal journey with MS after being diagnosed at age 26. It encompasses both his efforts to stymie the disease's progression and his search for answers about the disease, when, statistically, he seemed at low risk due to his gender, lack of known family risk, and other factors.

MRIs and brain monitoring therapies are becoming increasingly popular for those looking to process trauma and address mental health conditions, including PTSD and depression. This article details how these therapies quantify mental health, giving users another way to measure and manage their mental and emotional needs through brain mapping and other methods.

As many as a quarter of MS patients have antibodies in their blood that bind to both a central protein in Epstein-Barr virus and a protein made in the brain and spinal cord that—when attacked—leads to a breakdown of protective nerve fiber insulation. This suggests the immune system's primed to attack the nervous system after mounting a defense against Epstein-Barr.

The disorder is diagnosed by a clinician who observes behaviors and medical history and may run additional tests to rule out other explanations for symptoms including physical injury or other mental health disorders. But, ultimately, it's largely a diagnosis of exclusion—since there is no definitive test for the disease. Antipsychotic medications can help control its symptoms for some patients, but there is no cure for schizophrenia.

Though the disease is more common in women, men's symptoms progress more quickly, with men more often diagnosed with progressive MS and men's cases typically resulting in more severe symptoms—perhaps due at least partly to more delayed diagnosis—and more severe disability over time.

These diseases remain some of medicine's thorniest problems because the immune system can mistakenly attack almost any tissue in the body, resulting in myriad diseases, including lupus (numerous tissues affected), Hashimoto's (thyroid), and MS (the nervous system).

MS patients often use complementary and alternative medicine approaches for MS, including acupuncture, yoga, specific diets, herbs like turmeric, and cannabis. Information on integrative approaches often come from support groups and online communities. Complementary care is typically used in conjunction with traditional medicines.

Migraine is a neurological condition that can cause debilitating symptoms across various bodily functions. So, what exactly is happening in the brain during these attacks? This five-minute video briefly overviews the internal machinations behind the painful episodes. An incapacitating headache is a common symptom of migraine, though migraine can occur without any headache.

In the absence of myelin, the body forms scar tissue called sclerosis. That scar tissue hampers nerve's abilities to transmit nerve impulses, essentially acting as a roadblock to speedy communication.

There's only one thing in our solar system sophisticated enough to study itself: the human brain. But this self-investigation is challenging because a living brain is shielded by skull, swaddled in tissue, and made up of billions of tiny cells. How do we study living brains without harming their owners? Two experts explain how the various techniques like EEGs, fMRIs, and PETs work in this TedEd talk.

Several companies are attempting to create brain-computer interfaces that skip over retinas and optic nerves to allow visual input to go straight to the brain, potentially restoring some sight to the blind. Clinical trial findings suggest restored sight is sparse and manifests differently than a sighted person might expect, appearing as specks of "light" clusters called phosphenes to help differentiate one's surroundings.

Latitude—and related vitamin D exposure—seems to affect MS risk. People who migrate from a high-risk MS latitude (like northern Europe or the northern US) to a lower-risk latitude (like tropical areas) before age 15 tend to adopt the lower risk of their new country—suggesting there's a critical window for environmental exposure.

Researchers believe that a combination of factors can elevate MS risk, including a lack of vitamin D exposure in different locales, genetic history, cigarette smoke exposure, and Epstein-Barr virus infection.

The 2026 research finding from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis—if validated in broader populations—suggests that an already available blood test could estimate when Alzheimer's symptoms may begin within a margin of several years. The test detects a protein called p-tau217 found in blood plasma and the researchers incorporated the findings from that blood test into a statistical model to come up with the symptom timeline predictions.

A growing number of people on social media claim to have a perceptual condition that lets them smell colors, see music, or taste sounds. But do they really?

A doctor will look at a vertigo patient's rapid, uncontrollable eye movements—formally called nystagmus—to better understand its causes. When a patient is lying down with their head turned and their eyes spin in a certain position and stop it's likely a peripheral cause, but if the spinning doesn't stop or it changes direction it's more likely a central nervous system issue.

Up to 80% of schizophrenia patients may have auditory hallucinations. Recent research concluded that this symptom may be from misfired motor signals that feed into each other, essentially failing to suppress certain sensory neural activities and that resulting overexcitment fuels hallucinations. The finding suggests that, one day, magnetic pulses might be used to stimulate specific nerves to better regulate the errant signals and reduce or stop hallucinations.

The research published in September 2025 examined differences in Lyme disease diagnosis among Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries using data from 2016 to 2021. It notes that though US Lyme disease surveillance data indicates more than 90% of diagnosed Lyme cases are among white people, people of color—particularly those who identify as Black or African American—have higher rates of more severe disease of Lyme, with symptoms including arthritis and neurologic impacts.

Clinicians must screen for symptoms of eye and vision damage in leprosy patients, including loss of sensation, reduced blink reflex, and inability to close or keep the eyes closed.

Scientists have successfully implanted false memories in mice after studying how the editing process works in the brain. Beyond potentially deleting memories in those with PTSD, upcoming research may allow clinicians to forecast the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

Recent DNA sequencing and molecular biology studies suggest that similarities in genes, neural circuitry and patterns of disease warrant further exploration to potentially better understand both conditions and how to treat them.

Living with migraine, however often the neurological condition attacks, is a journey fraught with pain and isolation. This migraine guide offers insight into the condition, common triggers, possible treatments, personal stories, and tips for managing life with migraine.

Our ability to build new myelin sheaths for nerves degrades with age. There have been research advances boosting cells that support these processes and clear away debris from degraded myelin, but not yet any medications to boost myelination itself, which would aid nerve signaling and preserve nerve function.

Psychedelics like LSD often take users on novel experiences that can result in lasting shifts in perspective and behavior. See how LSD affects brain activity in this video that details how scientists visually captured the psychedelic's effect for the first time.

Autoantibodies—which attack the body—may be detectable in the body years before a patient develops symptoms, but some people may have detectable levels yet never go on to develop an autoimmune disease. This video discusses this and other unsolved mysteries with autoimmune disease.

It describes a constellation of symptoms attributed to a persistent Lyme infection—meaning the bacteria have remained present even after antibiotics. It often occurs among people who have never received a positive test for Lyme. Doctors do recognize "post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome," however, which can include muscle and joint pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties after treatment for confirmed Lyme.

The human brain has developed cognitive shortcuts to help us navigate in a world where our visual senses are constantly bombarded of information. But these shortcuts can also be exploited, tricking the brain into telling us something is happening when it really isn't. This short video unpacks the neuroscience behind some of the most common (but perplexing) optical illusions.

This map underscores that people in the northeastern United States have more cases of the disease as compared to the south, west, and midwest. On an individual level, these numbers may still differ based on genetic makeup and other factors irrespective of where people live.

The US database of clinical trials listed more than 1,400 macular degeneration trials in early 2026. That doesn't mean every trial is recruiting, but it does indicate there is significant interest in this medical condition.

The components of the smoke itself are associated with these significantly increased risks, so it's something beyond nicotine itself that drives that risk. What's more, smoking also increases the risk of developing antibodies to MS-treating drugs.

The exact causes of Alzheimer's—and how to treat it—continue to be the subject of intense research. Two leading factors are amyloid beta plaques and tau protein tangles, which effectively pile up in the brain and interfere with neurons and cause cell death, which manifests as memory loss and other symptoms.

A Harvard study with data from more than 10 million US military personnel found that people that contracted Epstein-Barr virus had a roughly 32-fold increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis. The work, published in 2022, found that Infection of the virus preceded MS onset by a median of five years, raising questions about better Epstein-Barr virus management and potential disease prevention.

Explore this resource with summaries and related resources for the dozens of autoimmune diseases defined in the medical literature. Many of these disease write-ups also have interviews with a patient with the disorder—offering a personal take about challenges, advice, and lifestyle effects.

A study led by a team from Stanford University showed that MR can help people with depression by providing pathways to engage in activities such as digital board games and dancing. Participants saw reduced symptoms of depression that made their overall treatment plans more successful.

Prevalence estimates for age-related macular degeneration in the US are usually based on the Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System. Disease numbers are generated using Bayesian meta-regression (a type of statistical modeling), which pulls together information from multiple sources, including Medicare claims.

Brain organoid research is enabling researchers to study distinct electrical firing patterns associated with schizophrenia. These "mini-brains" that are constructed in the lab from patients' cells could lead to better diagnosis approaches and drug development.