Incontinence is a common symptom for people with MS – although the severity and longevity vary from person to person. For some people this may be short-term with a relapse, and for others the problems can be more long-term.
Many people with MS experience a range of bladder problems, including urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence may range from occasional leaks when coughing or sneezing to sudden urges to urinate throughout the day, sometimes leaking before making it to the bathroom.
Incontinence is the loss of bladder control. Sometimes, MS will disrupt the nerve signals that direct the movement of urine in your body so that it comes out when you're not ready. Nocturia means you have to get up a lot during the night to go to the bathroom. Urinary hesitancy is when you have trouble starting to pee.
Bladder dysfunction, which occurs in at least 80 percent of people with MS, happens when MS lesions block or delay transmission of nerve signals in areas of the central nervous system (CNS) that control the bladder and urinary sphincters.
There are basically two major muscles involved in emptying the bladder: the detrusor muscle and the sphincter muscle. As a result of MS, the detrusor muscle in the wall of the bladder involuntarily contracts, increasing the pressure in the bladder and decreasing the volume of urine the bladder can hold.
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.
Up to 90% of people with MS experience bladder issues. The symptoms usually start 6–8 years after the initial diagnosis, but in 10% of cases, they are present at the time of diagnosis. Keep reading to learn more about MS bladder issues, including diagnosis, treatment, and management.
Antispasmodic Medications
There are several medications available which can help prevent spasms of the bladder muscle, which can help reduce urgency and frequency incontinence associated with MS; they belong to a group of medicines known as antimuscarinic or anticholinergic drugs.
Another drug called desmopressin causes your body to make less pee. This stops you from needing to get up in the night to use the toilet, letting you sleep better. A drug called mirabegron (brand name Betmiga) relaxes the muscle in your bladder. This helps with urgency, frequency and incontinence.
Overview. Bowel dysfunction can cause a great deal of discomfort and embarrassment, and can aggravate other MS symptoms such as spasticity or bladder dysfunction. Constipation, loss of control of the bowels, and diarrhea are among the bowel problems that can occur in MS (. pdf).
Although CNS and serum metabolites have been previously considered as a source of MS and NMO-SD biomarkers, we have demonstrated that the urine metabolome shows significant promise for investigating and diagnosing MS and NMO-SD.
One of the most common symptoms of multiple sclerosis is the hyperactive bladder. These patients will have symptoms that may affect their lifestyle, such as urinary incontinence, urgency, and frequency.
Those symptoms include loss of vision in an eye, loss of power in an arm or leg or a rising sense of numbness in the legs. Other common symptoms associated with MS include spasms, fatigue, depression, incontinence issues, sexual dysfunction, and walking difficulties.
These include imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), spinal taps (examination of the cerebrospinal fluid that runs through the spinal column), evoked potentials (electrical tests to determine if MS affects nerve pathways), and laboratory analysis of blood samples.
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.
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.
They'll also look for signs of MS, such as: elevated levels of antibodies called IgG antibodies. proteins called oligoclonal bands. an unusually high number of white blood cells.
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.
MRI scan. An MRI scan is a painless scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body. It can show whether there's any damage or scarring of the myelin sheath (the layer surrounding your nerves) in your brain and spinal cord.
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.
Intrathecal IgG OCBs are a hallmark of MS and are the most widely used diagnostic biomarker in MS, despite not being specific to MS. In addition, an increased IgG synthetic rate and elevated IgG index are also used as corollary evidence for MS.
Numbness of the face, body, or extremities (arms and legs) is often the first symptom experienced by those eventually diagnosed as having MS.
Nearly two-thirds of MS patients have at least one GI symptom that persists for 6 months or more. Some of the most common problems are: 1) Dysphagia, 2) Heartburn, 3) Nausea, 4) Dyspepsia, 5) Diarrhea, 6) Constipation, and 7) Fecal Incontinence.