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.
Early MS symptoms often include: Vision problems such as blurred or double vision, or optic neuritis, which causes pain with eye movement and rapid vision loss. Muscle weakness, often in the hands and legs, and muscle stiffness accompanied by painful muscle spasms.
A common first presentation of RRMS is with unilateral optic neuritis characterised by gradual onset monocular visual loss, pain on moving the eye and altered colour vision. Visual loss rarely progresses beyond 2 weeks from the onset.
Signs and Symptoms
Characteristic lesions are located in the periventricular and juxtacortical regions, in addition to the brainstem, cerebellum, spinal cord, and optic nerve.
Here's where MS (typically) starts
Although a number of MS symptoms can appear early on, two stand out as occurring more often than others: Optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve, is usually the most common, Shoemaker says. You may experience eye pain, blurred vision and headache.
What Does MS Feels Like? A lack of feeling or a pins-and-needles sensation can be the first sign of nerve damage from MS. It usually happens in your face, arms, or legs, and on one side of your body. It tends to go away on its own.
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).
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.
Your doctor will refer you to a neurologist. They will examine you to check how different parts of your nervous system are working. A combination of tests is used to diagnose MS. The best test is an MRI of your brain and spinal cord to detect areas of damage.
Fatigue in MS is not just an ordinary tiredness, like you might get at the end of a hard day's work. People describe it as an overwhelming sense of tiredness with no obvious cause. You may wake up feeling as tired as you did when you went to sleep.
Common symptoms of MS include: Depression and emotional changes. Fatigue. MS hug (dysesthesia), a squeezing sensation around the torso that feels like a tightening blood pressure cuff.
These include fibromyalgia and vitamin B12 deficiency, muscular dystrophy (MD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), migraine, hypo-thyroidism, hypertension, Beçhets, Arnold-Chiari deformity, and mitochondrial disorders, although your neurologist can usually rule them out quite easily.
Can I have multiple sclerosis for years and not know it? Yes. MS can go undetected for years. Research has suggested that many patients experience MS-related symptoms and signs several years before receiving a definite diagnosis of the disease.
The 'MS hug' is symptom of MS that feels like an uncomfortable, sometimes painful feeling of tightness or pressure, usually around your stomach or chest. The pain or tightness can stretch all around the chest or stomach, or it can be just on one side. The MS hug can feel different from one person to another.
An MRI scanner uses a strong magnetic field to create a detailed image of inside your brain and spinal cord. It's very accurate and can pinpoint the exact location and size of any inflammation, damage or scarring (lesions). MRI scans confirm a diagnosis in over 90 per cent of people with MS.
Inflammation in a myelinated portion of the nervous system is the mainstay of multiple sclerosis (MS). Elevation of inflammatory markers such as procalcitonin, ESR and hs-CRP is suspected to occur in MS patients.
Characteristics of the MS gait pattern
You may walk more slowly, with shorter steps. You may lack in confidence when you walk – leading to hesitation and stumbling. You might feel unsteady when turning or walking. You might find placing your foot on the ground difficult.
What is the average age of MS diagnosis? An MS diagnosis can come in childhood thorugh to age 50 and beyond. However MS is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, and is approximately three times more common in women than men.
Feelings of shock, denial, fear, anger, anxiety, loneliness, sadness, uncertainty and guilt are all a normal part of coming to terms with a diagnosis of a lifelong condition like MS. You may feel a sense of relief or acceptance, especially if you've spent a long time trying to find out the reason for your symptoms.
There are three different types of muscle spasms in MS: Flexor spasm — The limb bends up toward the body. Extensor spasm — The limb shoots out, away from the body. Adductor spasm, commonly in the legs and thighs — The limbs come in toward each other.
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.
MS lesions developed preferentially in the supratentorial brain, particularly the frontal lobe and the sublobar region.