Re: RLS: nerves, Dr. Levin

[Guest guest]

Okay, Jill...........you got that now?.............ROF......now THAT was an

explanation!!!! :-)

Dickie Dear...........what a wonderful explanation that was!!! Really....I

have never had these systems described in such a way that I could understand

the way I can understand this. Thank you so much for the

education.........this goes into my file...........along with the many, many

other lessons that you have taught.

Have a good one!

Con

[Guest guest]

Jill Gunzel wrote:

>

>

>

> Dr. Levin...

> Could you please take it a step further? You wrote: " The abnormalities of

> RLS are felt to be in the spinal cord and/or the brain, not the nerves. "

>

> I don't know about other people, but I think I assume " nerves " when I think

> of spinal cord and/or brain. " What am I missing, here? I'm guessing you

> mean that RLS is associated with nerve problems in the spinal cord and

> brain, as opposed to something like nerve entrapment in my big toe (which

Jill

Anatomically, the human nervous system is divided into two parts, the

central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The CNS is

composed of the brain and spinal cord. The PNS is composed of the

cranial and spinal nerves. The nerves in the extremities are spinal

nerves. The cell bodies for the peripheral nerves reside in the brain

or the spinal cord. The peripheral nerves are cytoplasmic extensions

of these cell bodies. Diseases that affect the brain are called

encephalopathies, diseases that affect the spinal cord are

myelopathies and diseases that affect the peripheral nerves are called

neuropathies. Different diseases have a predilection for different

parts of the nervous system. The current evidence is that the

abnormalities in RLS reside in the CNS not the PNS. Neuropathies can

be the cause for secondary RLS but the abnormality that actually

causes the RLS is still within the CNS (brain and/or spinal cord).

What you are considering nerves in the spinal cord and brain are

called " tracts " . These consist of large bundles of nerve fibers which

are immediately adjacent to and not physically separated from other

bundles of nerve fibers. These fibers do not form " nerves " until they

leave the CNS. At that point, they are structurally and metabolically

different than their counterparts in the CNS. This is probably why

they are affected by a different set of diseases than their CNS

counterparts. Think of the PNS as transmission lines. The messages

that they carry originate in the CNS.

I hope this clears up the confusion.

Dr. Levin

[Guest guest]

its soooooooo easy to understand - kind of like the thigh bone is connected

to the knee bone thats connected to the ankle bone..........i'm so

confused!!!!!!

JACK

3 feet of snow melting in western nys - i'm building my ark

At 11:44 AM 1/19/99 EST, you wrote:

>From: MetaMom123@...

>

>Okay, Jill...........you got that now?.............ROF......now THAT was an

>explanation!!!! :-)

>

>Dickie Dear...........what a wonderful explanation that was!!! Really....I

>have never had these systems described in such a way that I could understand

>the way I can understand this. Thank you so much for the

>education.........this goes into my file...........along with the many, many

>other lessons that you have taught.

>

>Have a good one!

>

>Con

>

>------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

[Guest guest]

One neurologist told me a likely cause of my RLS was

peritonitis following a burst appendix 50 years ago.

However, my cousin, who has the " gift " with me of the family

depression gene, also told me HE has RLS, and he didn't have

an appendectomy.

Colette, fibro, fatigue and RLS, 52/FL

[Guest guest]

I'm with Jack on this one. I am amazed Dr. Levin at the amount of

knowledge you possess. I will re read it several times s l o w l y

and maybe it will make sense. Hats off to you Dr. Levin, and I'm so glad

your in this group, this is another one for my files as well..

Debbie

, Ca. Raining, raining raining......

41 and holding

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