Abnormal sensations can be a common initial symptom of MS. This often takes the form of numbness or tingling in different parts of your body, such as the arms, legs or trunk, which typically spreads out over a few days.
Numbness of the face, body, or extremities (arms and legs) is often the first symptom experienced by those eventually diagnosed as having MS.
Tightness or stiffness of the muscles, called spasticity, is caused directly by MS. Spasticity, will alter walking and cause pulling on the joints. This can result in pain typically in the ankles, knees, hips and back.
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.
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.
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.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the test of choice for diagnosing MS in combination with initial blood tests. MRIs use radio waves and magnetic fields to evaluate the relative water content in tissues of the body. They can detect normal and abnormal tissues and can spot irregularities.
Nerve pain
MS can damage the nerves that affect your muscles. This can cause acute or paroxysmal pain in the form of spasms. Your arms and legs might shoot out uncontrollably and might have pain like cramping or pulling. Nerve pain can also be chronic in the form of painful or unusual sensations on your skin.
Your feet, legs, and arms might burn and ache. In the early stages of the disease, you might feel a tightness around your belly or chest that gets worse at night, after exercise, or with changes in temperature.
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. These nerves control lots of different parts of your body.
“MS pain that commonly interferes with sleep is neuropathic pain — often described as burning, shooting, searing, or deeply aching. This pain can be relentless and is often worse at night.” Musculoskeletal pain can occur from a compensatory gait pattern (due to leg weakness or foot drop).
Early signs and symptoms of MS
tingling and numbness. pains and spasms. weakness or fatigue. balance problems or dizziness.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by your immune system mistakenly attacking the brain and nerves. It's not clear why this happens but it may be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) triggers that worsen symptoms or cause a relapse can include stress, heart disease and smoking. While some are easier to avoid than others, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and overall health and wellness can have outsized benefits for MS patients.
The first step in diagnosing MS is taking a thorough medical history. Your doctor will ask you about your symptoms, including when they began and whether you've noticed any patterns or triggers. They may also ask you about: injuries, diseases, or other health conditions with which you've been diagnosed.
Diagnosis and early intervention
As optic neuritis is the presenting sign of MS in up to 30 percent of patients, the eye exam can lead to the initial systemic diagnosis.
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.
It's also common for people with MS to gain weight due to their symptoms. It's important to try and reach a moderate weight and maintain it. Being overweight or underweight can worsen MS symptoms.
Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, is a wonderful tool to help diagnose and follow people with MS. MRI is safe and relatively non-invasive yet can provide very detailed images of the brain and spinal cord that can reveal MS lesions (also known as demyelination, spots, or plaques) and changes in MS activity over time.
Blood Tests: Currently, there are no definitive blood tests for diagnosing MS, but they can be used to rule out other conditions that may mimic MS symptoms, including Lyme disease, collagen-vascular diseases, rare hereditary disorders and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
CT scans may be used to exclude other causes of neurologic impairment, but they have a low positive predictive value in the diagnosis of MS; thus, the false-negative rate is high.