Common MS symptoms include numbness or tingling, spasticity, vision problems, walking difficulties, weakness, slurred speech, fatigue, bladder dysfunction, cognitive changes, and more. But these symptoms can be unpredictable.
More than 50% reported limitations in daily activities due to fatigue, physical weakness, problems with balance/coordination, heat/cold sensitivity, memory problems, numbness/tingling, trouble concentrating, impaired movement/muscle stiffness, and impaired sleeping.
Some 95 percent of MS patients complain of fatigue and cognitive difficulties. Other neurological symptoms that can affect employment include speech impairments, vision problems, and transportation difficulties.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). In MS , the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of potential symptoms, including problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance. It's a lifelong condition that can sometimes cause serious disability, although it can occasionally be mild.
You may have to adapt your daily life if you're diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), but with the right care and support many people can lead long, active and healthy lives.
About 15% of patients will never necessitate assistance with ambulation, while 5-10% will do so within 5 years, and another 10% will do so in 15 years. Average patient will take about 28 years from the point of diagnosis to necessitate assistance while walking, and will be about 60 years of age.
One of the first questions many people have when they're diagnosed with MS is: “Will I still be able to drive?” The good news is that most people with MS continue to drive as normal.
The study found that people with MS lived to be 75.9 years old, on average, compared to 83.4 years old for those without. That 7.5-year difference is similar to what other researchers have found recently.
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.
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.
We know early treatment improves long-term health and wellbeing by slowing down the build up of irreversible damage and reducing the number of relapses people experience. Starting MS treatment early is best but if you start later it can also have some benefits.
Vision Problems
The first symptom of MS for many people. Optic neuritis, neuromyelitis optica, blurred vision, poor contrast or color vision, and pain on eye movement can be frightening — and should be evaluated promptly.
While many with MS will experience depression or anxiety at some point, more rarely, some people experience changes to their emotions or behaviour that don't seem to make sense, or that they aren't able to control.
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.
Whether a person with MS becomes paralyzed may depend upon the severity of the MS and where the lesions, or damaged areas on the nerve fibers, are located.
Although MS isn't fatal, there's currently no cure — MS is a chronic condition. But many people who have MS also have to contend with other issues that can decrease their quality of life. Even though most will never become severely disabled, many experience symptoms that cause pain, discomfort, and inconvenience.
The strongest known risk factor for MS is infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Compared with uninfected individuals, the hazard of developing MS is approximately 15-fold higher among individuals infected with EBV in childhood and about 30-fold higher among those infected with EBV in adolescence or later in life.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) recognizes MS as a chronic illness or “impairment” that can cause disability severe enough to prevent an individual from working.
You can work with MS. Many people who have it stay in their job for years after they're diagnosed. It varies greatly from person to person. In time, you may need to ask for accommodations so you can continue there.
Remote work is becoming more common. Remote jobs include copywriting, graphic design, transcribing, online tutoring, product reviewing and customer support. Working from home may help you manage fatigue and avoid challenges with commuting to work.
Living with MS can be difficult. The condition is unpredictable, and symptoms come and go. This can make it hard for a person — and those around them — to know what is going to happen.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a lifelong condition with symptoms such as fatigue, pain, bladder and bowel problems, sexual dysfunction, movement and coordination difficulties, vision and cognition changes, and emotional/mental health problems.
MS can cause significant anxiety, distress, anger, and frustration from the moment of its very first symptoms. The uncertainty and unpredictability associated with MS is one of its most distressing aspects. In fact, anxiety is at least as common in MS as depression.
Average life span of 25 to 35 years after the diagnosis of MS is made are often stated. Some of the most common causes of death in MS patients are secondary complications resulting from immobility, chronic urinary tract infections, compromised swallowing and breathing.