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.
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.
Neurogenic pain is the most common and distressing of the pain syndromes in MS. This pain is described as constant, boring, burning or tingling intensely. It often occurs in the legs.
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 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).
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.
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.
It's easy to mistake sciatica as a symptom or related condition of MS, which often causes neuropathic pain. But while the two do coexist, sciatica isn't caused by MS. It's caused by strain on the sciatic nerve.
The weakness often occurs only on one side of your body or just in your legs or trunk. Weakness, like other MS symptoms, may come and go as you experience flare-ups and remissions during the course of the disease.
Neuropathic pain in MS originates directly from the damage to the myelin, with disrupted messages to the brain. Most commonly, this results in feelings of numbness, pins and needles, crawling sensations or a burning sensation which can occur anywhere in the body.
The two types of pain people with MS experience are nerve pain and musculoskeletal pain. Both types indirectly contribute to aching joints and body pains. While MS doesn't directly affect the joints, it does affect other areas that can lead to joint and body pain.
MS is best detected by a neurological examination and painless imaging studies of the brain and spinal cord using magnetic resonance testing (MRI). An ophthalmologist also can use a test called an optical coherence tomography (OCT) to determine if the optic nerve has been affected by MS.
Early signs and symptoms of MS
tingling and numbness. pains and spasms. weakness or fatigue. balance problems or dizziness.
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.
Visible symptoms include the use of assistive devices, problems with balance, and speech difficulties, while invisible symptoms include fatigue, pain, depression, and anxiety.
Clinically isolated syndrome describes a person's first episode of neurological symptoms caused by damaged myelin in the CNS. CIS is often referred to as the first stage of MS, even though it doesn't meet the MS criterion for dissemination in time (MS damage that occurs on different dates).
Neurological examination
Your neurologist will look for abnormalities, changes or weakness in your vision, eye movements, hand or leg strength, balance and co-ordination, speech and reflexes. These may show whether your nerves are damaged in a way that might suggest MS.
MS fatigue, steroid therapy, and depression can all lead to unwanted weight in people with MS. Though these factors are not your fault, you owe it to yourself to take control of your weight. Overeating can increase MS symptoms or health conditions, such as: fatigue.
There are also multiple infectious entities that mimic MS including; progressive multi-focal leukoencephalopathy (PML), Toxoplasmosis, Tuberculosis, Herpes Simplex Virus, Cytomegalovirus, Varicella zoster virus, Epstein Barr virus, Cryptococcus and Human immunodeficiency virus.