Common symptoms include fatigue, bladder and bowel problems, sexual problems, pain, cognitive and mood changes such as depression, muscular changes and visual changes. See your doctor for investigation and diagnosis of symptoms, since some symptoms can be caused by other illnesses.
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.
Early MS symptoms often include: Vision problems such as blurred or double vision, or optic neuritis, which causes pain with eye movement and rapid vision loss. Muscle weakness, often in the hands and legs, and muscle stiffness accompanied by painful muscle spasms.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by disseminated patches of demyelination in the brain and spinal cord. Common symptoms include visual and oculomotor abnormalities, paresthesias, weakness, spasticity, urinary dysfunction, and mild cognitive symptoms.
Vision problems
In around 1 in 4 cases of MS, the first noticeable symptom is a problem with one of your eyes (optic neuritis). You may experience: some temporary loss of vision in the affected eye, usually lasting for days to weeks.
Vision Problems
The first symptom of MS for many people. Optic neuritis, neuromyelitis optica, blurred vision, poor contrast or color vision, and pain on eye movement can be frightening — and should be evaluated promptly.
Here's where MS (typically) starts
Although a number of MS symptoms can appear early on, two stand out as occurring more often than others: Optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve, is usually the most common, Shoemaker says. You may experience eye pain, blurred vision and headache.
Your neurologist will look for abnormalities, changes or weakness in your vision, eye movements, hand or leg strength, balance and co-ordination, speech and reflexes. These may show whether your nerves are damaged in a way that might suggest MS.
MS is a Silent Disease
For example, chronic pain, blurred vision, and sensory problems are only experienced by the individual with MS, and cannot be easily noticed by others.
Understand That MS Symptoms Can Be Unpredictable
Common MS symptoms include numbness or tingling, spasticity, vision problems, walking difficulties, weakness, slurred speech, fatigue, bladder dysfunction, cognitive changes, and more. But these symptoms can be unpredictable.
Common signs and symptoms of primary progressive MS
Because spinal cord lesions are more common than brain lesions in PPMS, problems with walking are very common. Other symptoms of PPMS include: Balance problems. Bladder and bowel issues.
Learning points: Multiple sclerosis can have atypical presentations. Bulbar symptoms such as dysarthria and dysphagia can be initial symptoms of multiple sclerosis, although uncommon. Clinicians should be able to recognize multiple sclerosis with atypical onsets in order to make an early accurate diagnosis.
Of all the lesions in MS, cerebral lesions are the most common but cause the fewest symptoms early in MS.
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.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
It's very accurate and can pinpoint the exact location and size of any inflammation, damage or scarring (lesions). MRI scans confirm a diagnosis in over 90 per cent of people with MS.
In most people with relapsing-remitting MS , the diagnosis is straightforward and based on a pattern of symptoms consistent with the disease and confirmed by brain imaging scans, such as an MRI.
While there are no definitive blood tests for diagnosing MS, they can rule out other conditions that may mimic MS symptoms, including Lyme disease, collagen-vascular diseases, rare hereditary disorders, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) — the most common disease course — shows clearly defined attacks of new or increasing neurologic symptoms. These attacks are also called relapses or exacerbations. They are followed by periods of partial or complete recovery, or remission.
Both MS and SS are autoimmune diseases. Whereas MS impacts only the central nervous system (CNS), SS can impact multiple organs and organ systems throughout the body. There are two types of SS: localized cutaneous SS, affecting only the skin, and diffuse SS, affecting both the skin and organs.
Disease Course of MS Is Unpredictable
A person with benign MS will have few symptoms or loss of ability after having MS for about 15 years, while most people with MS would be expected to have some degree of disability after that amount of time, particularly if their MS went untreated.
In primary progressive MS, symptoms gradually worsen and accumulate over several years, and there are no periods of remission, though people often have periods where their condition appears to stabilise.