DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My mother-in-law has multiple sclerosis. She is pretty active. She keeps house for her husband and herself; she cooks and cleans. I know very little about this disease. Could my husband come down with it? Has any progress been made in treating it? My mother-in-law rarely talks about it. – H.Z.

ANSWER: The “sclerosis” of multiple sclerosis refers to scars found in the brain and spinal cord. “Multiple” means there are many of them. The scars result from an immune attack on the insulation material of nerves – myelin. The attack causes myelin to crumble and leaves the nerve exposed, like an electric wire without any protective covering. Then scars form. All this interferes with the transmission of nerve messages, and that results in the typical MS signs and symptoms.

Loss of vision or double vision is often the first sign of this illness. Tingling in arms and legs is another early sign. Walking becomes a problem. Muscle weakness is prominent.

MS has an unpredictable course, and there are different varieties of it. The most common kind is the relapsing/remitting variety. Symptoms appear and then they disappear, only to be replaced by another set of symptoms differing from the first set. In time, the periods of having no symptoms become shorter, and the symptoms become permanent.

Your husband’s chances of developing MS are greater than a person without any family history, but they are not overwhelming. If one parent has the illness, the child has a 1 in 50 chance of coming down with it.

In the past 20 years, great progress has been made in treating MS. Now there are medicines directed against the immune system to prevent myelin damage.

Acute attacks are treated with one of the cortisone drugs, and that has been standard treatment for many years.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 68 and love to play Pac-Man. When I get done with the game, I go “whew!” It stresses me out. Does this harm me? – S.S.

ANSWER: I can’t imagine that playing Pac-Man is doing any serious harm to you or your body.

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