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.
Evidence also suggests that many MS patients experience personality disturbances [13], [14], [15]. Commonly cited MS personality changes include social inappropriateness, disinhibition, apathy, emotional lability, and impulsivity.
A change in cognitive function or cognitive dysfunction is common in MS — more than half of all people with MS will develop problems with cognition. It may have been your first symptom of MS.
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 can occasionally cause inappropriate behavior
A very small proportion of people with MS exhibit inappropriate behavior such as sexual disinhibition. This type of behavior is thought to result in part from MS-related damage to the normal inhibitory functions of the brain.
[19] The result of the current study showed that the diagnosis of MS alone is not enough for creating meaningful changes in patients' personalities,[32] but it is possible for people with personality disorders to experience personality changes.
Summary. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system that can affect the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Common symptoms include fatigue, bladder and bowel problems, sexual problems, pain, cognitive and mood changes such as depression, muscular changes and visual changes.
MS affects each person differently.
This may block or slow down the communication between your brain and spine with the rest of the body. You can have numbness and tingling, balance problems, dizziness, vision issues, fatigue, or other things including problems with sex or your bladder and bowel.
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.
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.
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.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Recently, numerous studies have shown that MS disrupts a number of social cognitive abilities, including empathy, theory of mind (ToM), and facial emotion recognition.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) triggers that worsen symptoms or cause a relapse can include stress, heart disease and smoking. While some are easier to avoid than others, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and overall health and wellness can have outsized benefits for MS patients.
Most of the studies show that acute short-term stress has no negative effects on the progress of MS. However, chronic psychosocial stresses, such as interpersonal conflict, loss of loved ones, lack of social support, anxiety and depression were identified as risk factors to aggravate the symptoms of patients with MS.
Here are some things to avoid: “But you don't look ill.” MS has lots of symptoms you can't see, like fatigue, pain, heat sensitivity or problems with balance, memory, bladder, bowel or eyes. Saying someone doesn't look ill can undermine how they feel.
Many people with MS experience a temporary worsening of their symptoms when the weather is very hot or humid, or when they run a fever. These temporary changes can result from even a slight elevation in core body temperature (one-quarter to one-half of a degree).
Fatigue is also among the most common symptoms, reported by at least 75% of MS patients at some point in the disease course. For many, fatigue is considered to be the single most debilitating symptom, surpassing pain and even physical disability.
Cortical demyelination in MS is increasingly recognized2 and rare patients with MS have severe progressive cortical dementia in relative isolation from other clinical impairment.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with a higher prevalence of mood and psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder (BD). While mania is most often associated with BD, MS can also induce manic symptoms.
Results People with MS showed less adjustment to risk and slower decision-making than controls. Moreover, impaired decision-making correlated with reduced executive function, memory and processing speed. Decision-making impairments were most prevalent in people with secondary progressive MS.
In fact, the majority of people with MS will not become severely disabled. Many people with MS choose to use wheelchairs or scooters from time to time or to do certain things, perhaps because of symptoms like fatigue or weakness, or to conserve energy. People often find this gives them more freedom rather than less.
Long-term stress can cause physical problems including impaired memory, headaches and high blood pressure. Stress is a normal part of life for everyone, but in addition to facing normal everyday stresses, people with MS have to deal with the unpredictability and pressures the condition itself causes.
People living with MS often continue working long after their diagnosis. On the flip side, some people with MS decide to leave their jobs when they are first diagnosed or experience their first major exacerbation, often at the suggestion of their family or doctor.
Alcohol's Effect on MS Symptoms
Even one drink can make issues like unsteadiness worse. “If you have a lot of trouble with balance, thinking, or memory symptoms from MS, it may be better to avoid alcohol altogether,” says Graves. Alcohol can also lead to sleep problems and worsen bladder symptoms.