By Denise Mann WEDNESDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- Besides
problems with gait and vision, people who have multiple
sclerosis often complain they have trouble remembering things,
and now new research may explain why. According to a small study
from the Netherlands, people with MS who report memory and
thinking problems have more extensive damage to the white matter
in their brains than their counterparts with MS who don't report
such problems. Up to 70 percent of all people with MS will
experience a mental decline at some point, said study author
Hanneke Hulst at the VU University Medical Center, in Amsterdam.
And the new research "confirmed that cognitive symptoms in MS
have a biological basis," Hulst said. The findings were
published online March 6 in Neurology. MS is an autoimmune
disease that occurs when the body attacks myelin, a fatty
substance that insulates the nerve fibers of the central nervous
system. The brain's white matter is surrounded by myelin.
Symptoms range in severity and may include pro