Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system that can affect the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Common symptoms include fatigue, bladder and bowel problems, sexual problems, pain, cognitive and mood changes such as depression, muscular changes and visual changes.
Vision Problems
The first symptom of MS for many people.
Contents. You may have to adapt your daily life if you're diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), but with the right care and support many people can lead long, active and healthy lives.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by your immune system mistakenly attacking the brain and nerves. It's not clear why this happens but it may be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). The central nervous system comprises the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system includes all peripheral nerves. Myelin is the layer that forms around nerve cells.
The early signs and symptoms of MS can be the same for women and men. One of the more obvious first signs of MS is a problem with vision, known as optic neuritis. This is often because it's a more concrete symptom as opposed to vaguer neurological symptoms like numbness and tingling.
Some of the most common early signs are: fatigue (a kind of exhaustion which is out of all proportion to the task undertaken) stumbling more than before. unusual feelings in the skin (such as pins and needles or numbness)
Although more people are being diagnosed with MS today than in the past, the reasons for this are not clear. Likely contributors include greater awareness of the disease, better access to medical care and improved diagnostic capabilities. There is no definitive evidence that the rate of MS is generally on the increase.
Unhealthy Habits
Smoking and alcohol use are modifiable risk factors — they can be altered by personal choice — and are known from large research studies to increase a person's risk of developing MS or of disease progression.
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.
MS can occur at any age, but onset usually occurs around 20 and 40 years of age. However, younger and older people can be affected. Sex. Women are more than 2 to 3 times as likely as men are to have relapsing-remitting MS .
There are two main types of pain in multiple sclerosis:
Examples of nerve pain include painful sensations in the side of the face, called trigeminal neuralgia, and a tight feeling, often around the chest, called the MS hug. Pain in the limbs is very common.
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).
But no one knows exactly what triggers the immune system to attack the central nervous system. Most experts believe it occurs when a person with a genetic predisposition to MS is exposed to certain environmental conditions, such as a low vitamin D level, smoking, or the Epstein-Barr virus.
MS is not directly inherited from parent to child. There's no single gene that causes it. Over 200 genes might affect your chances of getting MS.
The hot feet sensation can vary from person to person. 2 You may experience: An itching, burning sensation that can feel like crawling under or on the skin. "Pins and needles"
My brain goes fuzzy, I can't think clearly, my speech slurs and my eyesight goes. Swallowing becomes more difficult, my balance gets worse and my legs feel heavy and clumsy. Unlike the limits of normal, everyday tiredness, which may give a little when pushed against, MS fatigue can feel like a barrier.
While constipation is the most common pattern of bowel dysfunction in people with MS, the opposite can also be true and bowel function can actually “speed up”, causing loose stools, diarrhea, and incontinence. Sometimes, loose stools are caused by foods in your diet.
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.
MRI: This imaging test lets the doctor take a closer look at your brain. They can see changes caused by multiple sclerosis, like signs of inflammation in the deep parts of your brain or spinal cord. Older people or those with high blood pressure and diabetes also can have the same kinds of spots on a brain MRI.