Is multiple sclerosis caused by stress?

One of Dr. Mate's patients, Natalie, is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in chapter two. She was diagnosed by a MRI showing inflammation where myelin in the central nervous system was damaged and scarred. I have attached two pictures as examples of MRIs of MS. The red arrow on the picture to the left is pointing to a spot of myelin loss in the spinal cord. We actually talked about MS during the nervous system unit and how the fatty tissue lining nerve cells in the CNS are less effective because of the damage - resulting in damaged neurons. For some reason, I always thought MS was always in the brain, though the main areas attacked are usually the spinal cord. This makes sense because usually people with MS have troubles walking. My great uncle has MS and he has been unstable walking for as long as i've known him.

Dr. Mate also talks about the symptoms of MS:

if damage is in the spinal cord - involuntary tightening/weakness of muscles, numbness, pain or other unpleasant sensations in the limbs or trunk.

if damage is in the lower part of the brain - double vision or problems with speech or balance is caused.

I think these symptoms are important to know in case you or someone you know experiences some of these things as multiple sclerosis is extremely common. I learnt from the website attached below that about 400,000 people in the USA have multiple sclerosis.

So is multiple sclerosis caused by stress? This question is not answered entirely, but Dr. Mate mentions a study done in Colorado. Their results shows that, "patients burdened by qualitatively extreme stresses, such as major relationship difficulties or financial insecurity, were almost four times as likely to suffer exacerbations [episodes]".

For more information about multiple sclerosis:

http://mssociety.ca/en/information/default.htm