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.
MS is diagnosed by your neurologist. They will use a specific checklist to diagnose MS, known as the McDonald criteria. They'll carry out a number of tests to run through the criteria, which could include blood tests and MRI.
A neurologist – a doctor who specializes in treating the disease – should be able to help. They'll ask how you're feeling and help you figure out if your symptoms mean you have MS or another problem.
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).
The GP can't make a diagnosis of MS, but can assess your symptoms and rule out alternative conditions that could be causing your symptoms.
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. You might also need to have blood tests, a lumbar puncture and tests to measure nerve activity.
See a GP if you think you have symptoms of MS. Letting them know about the type and pattern of symptoms you're experiencing in detail will help them determine whether you might have the condition.
Early MS symptoms may include blurred vision, numbness, dizziness, muscle weakness, and coordination issues. MS is progressive and can worsen over time. Eventually, the disease can do damage directly to the nerves, causing permanent disability.
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.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia and MS have some similar symptoms, including headaches, joint and muscle pain, numbness and tingling of extremities, memory problems, and fatigue. Like MS, fibromyalgia is more common in women than in men.
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.
How to self-assess multiple sclerosis symptoms. A multiple sclerosis (MS) self-assessment cannot diagnose MS, but it may help a person understand their symptoms and know when to contact a doctor. An MS self-assessment may focus on energy levels, physical sensations, vision problems, and more.
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.
These pain sensations feel like burning, stabbing, sharp and squeezing sensations. In MS you can experience acute neuropathic pain and chronic neuropathic pain. Acute Neuropathic Pain is sometimes an initial symptom of MS or may be part of an MS relapse. Acute means it has a rapid onset and is of short duration.
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.
How long can MS go undiagnosed? MS is usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, but it can go undetected for years. In fact, a 2021 study suggested that many people with MS experience disease symptoms several years before being officially diagnosed with the disease.
Signs of MS may start five years before diagnosis.
The obvious symptoms can include difficulty walking, loss of coordination, muscle spasms, weakness and changes in speech. But, not all symptoms are easily visible. “Unfortunately, many invisible symptoms are subjective,” said Dr.
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. Resolution is often complete.
The symptoms can be similar, but people with fibromyalgia are more likely to experience depression, irritable bowel syndrome, and widespread, persistent pain. Symptoms more common with MS include weakness, vision problems, muscle spasms, and bowel or bladder issues.
Some people with MS feel that they developed MS as a direct result of some stressful event or trauma. The evidence on this connection is mixed. Some studies do see an effect whilst others don't.
Disability Related
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides funds to support people with a permanent disability who are under 65 years old, including people living with MS.
Healthy adults have a small amount of brain atrophy due to natural ageing, but in many people with untreated MS, brain atrophy occurs at a much faster rate. Current MS treatments aim to prevent new central nervous system lesions forming that lead to irreversible damage and brain atrophy.