What kind of back pain do you have with MS?

Medical professionals refer to this pain as neuropathic pain. It is one of the most common symptoms of MS that can dramatically reduce a person's quality of life. This type of pain can occur all over the body. If a person has neuropathic pain in their back, it can manifest as a sharp, stabbing, or shooting sensation.

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What does MS back pain feel like?

Neck and back pain: Some people with MS can experience neck and back pain. This may be due to immobility, or to the same type of wear and tear that many people without MS experience. This type of pain is often an aching, stiff sensation that can be moderately severe.

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What does MS do to your back?

Below are some of the ways in which MS can cause spine pain: Muscle stiffness: Patients with MS often experience muscle stiffness. The less the muscles are used, the more uncomfortable they will be, thus creating pain in areas such as the back. Immobility: As MS progresses, many patients are limited in their movement.

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Does MS start with back pain?

Back pain is one of many symptoms associated with MS. A variety of treatments may help alleviate your pain.

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What kind of pain is felt with MS?

Neuropathic pain happens from “short circuiting” of the nerves that carry signals from the brain to the body because of damage from MS. These pain sensations feel like burning, stabbing, sharp and squeezing sensations. In MS you can experience acute neuropathic pain and chronic neuropathic pain.

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Types of Pain in MS - National MS Society

35 related questions found

Where is MS back pain located?

Lhermitte's sign is another common symptom of MS. It is a short, intense pain that runs from the back of the head down the spine and sometimes into the arms or legs.

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Is there constant pain with MS?

A lot of people with MS experience pain at some time. It varies from person to person and over time, but drug treatments and other therapies can help you cope. Pain can be associated with stiffness or spasms in muscles, or symptoms like Lhermitte's sign, trigeminal neuralgia or optic neuritis.

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When should you suspect multiple sclerosis?

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.

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How would you describe MS pain?

In MS patients commonly have neuropathic pain. It often affects a limb or limbs, and sometimes involved the trunk. It is described in a various ways but often the following descriptions are used: “burning, tingling, jabbing, electrical, itching”.

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Can back problems mimic MS?

Spinal Disorders

This irritation of nearby nerves can lead to numbness or weakness in the area of the body that correlates with the affected nerves. These symptoms can mimic those of MS.

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What two parts of the body does MS affect?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). In MS , the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body.

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Is sciatic pain a symptom of MS?

The takeaway. It's easy to mistake sciatica as a symptom or related condition of MS, which often causes neuropathic pain. But while the two do coexist, sciatica isn't caused by MS. It's caused by strain on the sciatic nerve.

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Can you see MS on a back MRI?

Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, is a wonderful tool to help diagnose and follow people with MS. MRI is safe and relatively non-invasive yet can provide very detailed images of the brain and spinal cord that can reveal MS lesions (also known as demyelination, spots, or plaques) and changes in MS activity over time.

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Does MS cause back and shoulder pain?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) can often lead to muscle or joint pain due to nerve damage, either as a direct cause or residual effect of MS. According to one study of 115 people with MS, the shoulders and upper back are commonly affected areas of pain in those with MS.

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What are some unusual symptoms of MS?

Here are some of the less common, more surprising symptoms that you might not be aware of.
  • Vertigo. Many people with MS experience dizziness, in which you feel light-headed or off-balance, notes the NMSS. ...
  • Speech Disorders. ...
  • Difficulty Swallowing. ...
  • Itching. ...
  • Hearing Problems. ...
  • Tremors. ...
  • Headache and Migraine. ...
  • Breathing Problems.

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Is MS pain constant or intermittent?

The sensation can be lightning-like and intermittent, or it can be a burning, tingling, or a tight, “hug-like” feeling that can be continuous. Surveys for patient pain indicate that the most common pain syndromes experienced in MS are: continuous burning in extremities; headache; back pain; and painful tonic spasms.

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How do you confirm MS diagnosis?

Brain MRI is often used to help diagnose multiple sclerosis.
...
MRI multiple sclerosis lesions
  1. Blood tests, to help rule out other diseases with symptoms like MS . ...
  2. Spinal tap (lumbar puncture), in which a small sample of cerebrospinal fluid is removed from your spinal canal for laboratory analysis.

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How do you know if you caught MS early?

MS is best detected by a neurological examination and painless imaging studies of the brain and spinal cord using magnetic resonance testing (MRI). An ophthalmologist also can use a test called an optical coherence tomography (OCT) to determine if the optic nerve has been affected by MS.

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What does a neurologist do to check for MS?

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.

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What blood tests are elevated with MS?

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.

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Do people with MS have daily symptoms?

MS symptoms can come and go and change over time. They can be mild, or more severe. The symptoms of MS are caused by your immune system attacking the nerves in your brain or spinal cord by mistake.

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Can MS cause lower back pain?

The prevalence of back pain in MS patients ranged from 8.6 to 50%, but that of low back pain in particular ranged from 41.6 to 52.4%. Concerning the survey, 237 patients participated in the online questionnaire. The prevalence of low back pain in the French MS patients was 76.4%.

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Can you have MS symptoms everyday?

I have MS, that's multiple sclerosis to those of you whose lives haven't been touched by it. More specifically, and hey let's be specific, I have primary progressive multiple sclerosis. This means I have symptoms every day, and every night, without any intervals.

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Is MS pain one sided?

The 'MS hug' is symptom of MS that feels like an uncomfortable, sometimes painful feeling of tightness or pressure, usually around your stomach or chest. The pain or tightness can stretch all around the chest or stomach, or it can be just on one side.

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Where are most MS lesions found?

Lesions may be observed anywhere in the CNS white matter, including the supratentorium, infratentorium, and spinal cord; however, more typical locations for MS lesions include the periventricular white matter, brainstem, cerebellum, and spinal cord.

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