Yes, multiple sclerosis (MS) can affect your facial features and the sensations in your face, primarily through nerve damage that causes symptoms like numbness, pain, muscle spasms, and in some cases, facial weakness or drooping.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) can present with facial symptoms and signs, such as facial palsy, myokymia, and hemifacial spasm.
When trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is caused by MS, it is referred to as secondary trigeminal neuralgia- there is an underlying disease causing your facial pain. Trigeminal neuralgia almost always occurs on one side of the face, although in MS patients, it occurs more frequently on both sides, in about 18 percent of cases.
Early signs and symptoms of MS include:
This could be caused directly by MS nerve damage in the spinal cord or brain. Shoulder pain and upper back pain can also be the result of living with MS.
The Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) is a 19 item observational measure used by physical therapists and other health care professionals to assess upper extremity performance (coordination, dexterity and functioning) in stroke recovery, brain injury and multiple sclerosis populations.
The most common pains in people with MS are burning pain in the legs or arms, back pain, painful spasms, trigeminal neuralgia (stabbing, intermittent facial pain), and Lhermitte's sign (shock-like sensation down the back and into the arms when dipping your chin to your chest).
Invisible symptoms of MS – fatigue, pain, blurred vision, numbness, and brain fog – which often go unnoticed by other people, can also interfere with daily functioning and be just as debilitating.
The hot bath test reflects the effect of heat that many people with MS notice. Hot weather, hot baths or showers, exercising or an infection can all raise your internal body temperature. The raised temperature can cause your MS symptoms to appear or worsen. This is known as Uhthoff's phenomenon.
MS-related itching can happen anywhere on the body and can affect one or both sides. It most commonly affects the face, torso, arms, and legs.
Tests used to diagnose MS may include: MRI, which can reveal areas of MS on the brain and spinal cord. These areas are called lesions. A contrast dye may be given through an IV to highlight lesions that show the disease is in an active phase.
People living with multiple sclerosis (MS) might expect to experience numerous symptoms, including fatigue, leg weakness, vision problems, emotional changes, muscle spasms, and cognitive (thinking and memory) issues. But other troubling, less common symptoms of MS can also develop — such as facial swelling.
In addition to causing damage to the myelin sheath, MS also damages the nerve cell bodies, which are found in the brain's gray matter, as well as the axons themselves. As the disease progresses, the outermost layer of the brain, called the cerebral cortex, shrinks. This process is known as cortical atrophy.
Some people with MS lose sensation in their tongue. Some health care providers refer to MS-related tongue issues as “MS tongue.” Loss of sensation or numbness can make it difficult to move your tongue when you speak, chew, or swallow. Tongue numbness may also diminish sense of taste.
About half of people with MS at some time or other get a particular problem called optic neuritis. This is when your optic nerve becomes inflamed. Optic neuritis symptoms can include blurry vision, 'washed out' colour vision, and eye pain for a few days when you move your eyes.
Other more advanced symptoms include hand weakness, wrist drop (difficulty raising hand), curling fingers, poor sensation. You may notice that you drop items or have difficulty gauging how to pick up an item.
Vision problems
The most common problems with vision in MS are optic neuritis and eye movement problems. Optic neuritis is often an early symptom of multiple sclerosis, although you might have problems with your eyes at any time.
MS and feeling cold. Some people with MS find the cold is a problem. In one survey, a third of people with MS were sensitive to both hot and cold. If the cold affects you, you might notice sensory symptoms or mobility gets worse until you warm up again.
Symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS)
Some of the most common symptoms include: feeling extremely tired (fatigue) problems with your eyes or your vision, such as blurred vision or eye pain. numbness or a tingling feeling in different parts of the body.
Numbness and tingling can occur in your feet, legs, hands, arms or face. In my example, it started in my feet and then spread to my legs.
1800 mg of Gabapentin a day is a common dose to help neuropathic pain. The FDA has approved PreGabalin and Cymbalta for treatment of diabetic related peripheral neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia, but we also use these medications for MS neuropathic pain in an off label fashion.
MS Symptoms in Legs
The top symptoms in the legs include: Weakness: Legs may feel heavy, fatigued, or harder to move, especially after walking or standing for long periods. Numbness or Tingling: A “pins and needles” sensation, or complete numbness, often starting in the feet and moving upward.
While you may not associate MS with itching, it can be a neuropathic symptom such as numbness and tingling. Thirty-one percent of the patients in a 2022 University of Miami study reported chronic itching.