Lesions in the brain may affect cognitive abilities. Some people with MS have trouble with memory, attention and concentration, multitasking and decision-making, says Dr. Scherz. The changes are usually mild at the beginning, but can be frustrating as time goes by.
What Does Head Pressure With MS Feel Like? Head pressure is both an invisible and subjective MS symptom. The sensation of pressure can feel different to different people. This can make pressure hard to define and measure: The feeling can range from barely noticeable to unbearably painful, and everything in between.
It could feel like a dull head pain, with pressure or tenderness in and around the forehead. Unlike migraines, tension headaches generally don't cause nausea or vomiting. Milder tension headaches are more common in people who have had multiple sclerosis for many years.
Headaches occurred more often in younger people with MS and in people on certain disease modifying treatments. They suggest that headaches may be a more significant part of MS than previously realised. Möhrke J, Kropp P, Zettl UK. Headaches in multiple sclerosis patients might imply an inflammatorial process.
While it is true that almost all people with MS will have evidence of brain lesions on MRI, not all people with brain lesions have MS.
MRI scan. The most common next step is to have a scan of your brain and/or spinal cord using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). This scan can detect the scars used by MS which show up as little white patches and are usually called lesions.
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.
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.
In fact, it's estimated that more than half of people living with MS will develop cognitive issues. People may experience such things as forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, and confusion. Brain fog is also referred to as “brain haze” or “cog fog” — short for cognitive fog.
This can be caused by overworking, lack of sleep, stress, and spending too much time on the computer. On a cellular level, brain fog is believed to be caused by high levels inflammation and changes to hormones that determine your mood, energy and focus.
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.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
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.
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.
Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease that can mimic some of the symptoms of MS such as fatigue and joint pain.
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.
Some of the most common mimics include migraine and chronic cerebrovascular disease, according to Dr Schiess. Vasculitic autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren's syndrome can also result in white matter abnormalities on MRI.
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.
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.