Overview. Dizziness is a common symptom of MS. People with MS may feel off balance or lightheaded. Much less often, they have the sensation that they or their surroundings are spinning — a condition known as vertigo.
Severe, ongoing dizziness
Dizziness has many causes, but MS-induced dizziness is typically more severe and lasts for at least two days.
Problems with balance and feeling dizzy are common in MS, and can have knock-on effects on your walking. Like all MS symptoms, these issues affect people differently, and vary from day to day.
Causes of Dizziness and Vertigo With MS
It usually happens because of a lesion around your brainstem or on the small brain structure above it called the cerebellum, which helps control your balance. A new lesion could bring vertigo. An older lesion that grows can do it, too.
Many people with MS experience dizziness, in which you feel light-headed or off-balance, notes the NMSS. A less-common MS symptom is vertigo. When you have vertigo, you feel as though your surroundings are spinning around you, Dr. Kalb says, or that you are spinning.
People should consider the diagnosis of MS if they have one or more of these symptoms: vision loss in one or both eyes. acute paralysis in the legs or along one side of the body. acute numbness and tingling in a limb.
Early signs and symptoms of MS
tingling and numbness. pains and spasms. weakness or fatigue. balance problems or dizziness.
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) tend to have their first symptoms between the ages of 20 and 40. Usually the symptoms get better, but then they come back. Some come and go, while others linger. No two people have exactly the same symptoms.
Those symptoms include loss of vision in an eye, loss of power in an arm or leg or a rising sense of numbness in the legs. Other common symptoms associated with MS include spasms, fatigue, depression, incontinence issues, sexual dysfunction, and walking difficulties.
Balance: Balance problems typically result in a swaying and “drunken” type of gait known as ataxia. Sensory deficit: Some people with MS have such severe numbness in their feet that they cannot feel the floor or know where their feet are. This is referred to as a sensory ataxia.
MS symptoms can come and go and change over time. They can be mild, or more severe. The symptoms of MS are caused by your immune system attacking the nerves in your brain or spinal cord by mistake.
Here's where MS (typically) starts
Optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve, is usually the most common, Shoemaker says. You may experience eye pain, blurred vision and headache. It often occurs on one side and can eventually lead to partial or total vision loss.
While there is no definitive blood test for MS, blood tests can rule out other conditions that cause symptoms similar to those of MS, including lupus erythematosis, Sjogren's, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, some infections, and rare hereditary diseases.
Most symptoms develop abruptly, within hours or days. These attacks or relapses of MS typically reach their peak within a few days at most and then resolve slowly over the next several days or weeks so that a typical relapse will be symptomatic for about eight weeks from onset to recovery. Resolution is often complete.
MS causes the immune system to attack nerve fibers and causes miscommunication between the brain and other parts of the body. When your optometrist detects optic nerve inflammation, that can indicate a diagnosis of MS.
Benign MS is a variation of relapsing-remitting MS. This is a form of the condition in which new or worsening symptoms are very mild or don't flare up for a long period of time. That's why doctors wait so long to diagnose it.
These include imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), spinal taps (examination of the cerebrospinal fluid that runs through the spinal column), evoked potentials (electrical tests to determine if MS affects nerve pathways), and laboratory analysis of blood samples.
Although MRI is a very useful diagnostic tool, a normal MRI of the brain does not rule out the possibility of MS. About 5 percent of people who are confirmed to have MS do not initially have brain lesions evidenced by MRI.
Lightheadedness is often caused by a lack of blood in the brain. It can happen when you stand up from sitting or from lying down, or if you are dehydrated. If you often feel lightheaded, while it's probably nothing that is life-threatening, it can still affect your life.
When you have MS and you exercise, it can improve your fitness, endurance, and strength in your arms and legs. Studies have shown that this can also give you better control over your bowel and bladder function, and decreased overall fatigue. And it can give your mood a boost.
Neck and back pain: Some people with MS can experience neck and back pain. This may be due to immobility, or to the same type of wear and tear that many people without MS experience. This type of pain is often an aching, stiff sensation that can be moderately severe.
Damage to your brain from MS, like lesions and loss of nerve tissue, can lead to cognition problems. Research shows that damage to grey matter plays a role. About half of people with MS have some kind of cognitive change. It can happen with any type of MS, but it's slightly more common with progressive MS.