PD and MSA patients are prone to pain with insufficient treatment.
A person with MSA has much slower movements than normal (bradykinesia). This can make it difficult to carry out everyday tasks. Movement is hard to initiate, and the person will often have a distinctive slow, shuffling walk with very small steps. Some people may also have stiff and tense muscles.
Of the patients who reported pain, neuropathic pain as assessed by the LANSS scale was found in 19 PD (33%) and three MSA (18%) patients.
Appetite reduces and weight loss is apparent. Communication becomes too effortful and breathing more bubbly or shallow. Dying is very rarely a dramatic event. In the majority of cases it is an increasing winding down of all bodily functions and everything stopping, death occurring in a peaceful and dignified manner.
Difficulty bending your arms and legs. Slow movement (bradykinesia) Tremors can occur at rest or when moving your arms or legs. Soft voice.
The disease tends to progress rapidly. About one half of people with MSA-P have lost most of their motor skills within 5 years of onset of the disease.
Sleep and breathing problems are very common in MSA patients. Sleep apnea (momentary lapses in breathing), respiratory stridor (noisy breathing), REM behavior disorder (shouting and acting out dreams) and excessive daytime sleepiness can be among the earliest symptoms of MSA.
What bowel problems can occur when you have MSA? Constipation is the most common bowel problem experienced by people with MSA. However, a number of people with MSA will experience diarrhoea and some people have fluctuation between constipation and diarrhoea (see points 5, 7 and 9 below).
Sudden death in multiple system atrophy (MSA) usually occurs during sleep and was therefore attributed to suffocation resulting from vocal cord abductor paralysis, a characteristic laryngeal finding of MSA.
Listen, listen, listen: Living with MSA can be very isolating. The family may be eager to talk about what they are going through so listening and showing empathy can be one of the most helpful things you can do. Or they may just want a light, fun evening with laughter. Pay attention to their cues and follow their lead.
In our study, we found that 6 MSA patients with pain improved their pain intensity through the use of dopaminergic medication, including levodopa and pramipexole.
When you feel safer, because the 'danger' has passed or because you no longer fear it, your body returns to a more relaxed state. This explains why some symptoms of MSA such as a tremor or speech difficulty can seem temporarily worse in stressful situations.
Whilst MSA doesn't cause loss of sight, there are several symptoms that can occur. People living with MSA may display abnormal eye movements. Most commonly, this is a consequence of impaired or absent convergence, which is the ability to focus both eyes together. This may result in blurred or double vision.
Autonomic Symptoms
All people with MSA have autonomic dysfunction, but it varies in severity from person to person. Symptoms can include: Cold hands or feet and heat intolerance, because control of body temperature is impaired.
Malnutrition is associated with higher mortality in the elderly population19 and MSA patients are frequently associated with weight loss20 and a malnutritional state8.
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare neurological disease that causes certain brain areas to deteriorate. Over time, this disrupts abilities and functions handled by those brain areas. This disease is ultimately fatal.
In MSA there may be several stages -- alpha-synuclein accumulates in the oligodendroglial cells, then there is failure of mitochondrial function as well as loss of trophic factor support. Then the oligodendroglia degenerate, followed by microglia and astroglial activation.
Though dementia is not considered a common characteristic of MSA, cognitive impairment occurs in some patients in the form of loss of verbal memory and verbal fluency1.
MSA affects men and women equally, with an average age of onset of approximately 55 years [2, 3].
Brain imaging scans, such as an MRI , can show signs that may suggest MSA and also help determine if there are other causes that may be contributing to your symptoms.
Disease Overview
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare sporadic progressive neurological disorder characterized by a varying combination of symptoms and signs. Onset is during adulthood (>30 years).
Around 3,000 people in Australia currently live with the rare parkinsonian condition called Multiple Systems Atrophy (MSA), which affects movement, breathing, blood pressure and other body functions.
In this unselected referral autopsy series of patients with antemortem diagnoses of MSA, the diagnostic accuracy was about 62%, which is within the range of other autopsy series.
A person with MSA experiences increasing difficulties with word finding and speech initiation, due to progressive neurological deterioration (Lieberman et al, 1992; Walsh & Smith, 2011). The rate of speech may also be slower compared to someone with Parkinson's disease (Huh et al, 2015).