Temperature intolerance, most often heat intolerance, is nearly universal in multiple sclerosis. The "hot bath" test took advantage of this fact to help diagnose MS before modern imaging with MRI. An anatomic study of MS patients showed hypothalamic lesions in 16/17 brains.
Knowing there is significant hypothalamic dysfunction in MS, are there imaging techniques that can identify the causative lesions? How does this dysfunction affect the pituitary and endocrine system? What current research is being done to elaborate the HPx axis dysfunction in MS?
MS can lead to hyperactivity of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)-producing neurons, dysregulation of the hypothalamus -pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and altered basal or stimulated cortisol concentrations .
Mazin H Al-Hawaz Thank you! I think this area of MS is underemphasized. For years before I was diagnosed, I had variable thyroid function and was on and off Synthroid. I now have variable HgbA1c, some years "prediabetic and metabolic syndrome" and some years normal. I feel like the HPO axis is affected as well. The variability in symptoms and lab tests makes sense in the waxing/waning, relapsing/remitting pattern of MS, even in those of us with a more progressive pattern of illness.
MS is a multiple systemic disease. It would be wrong to say that only the hypothalamus is affected.
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