Detecting multiple sclerosis at an early stage makes treatment easier, as well as the lifestyle of both the patient and his or her loved ones. You will learn what early symptoms help you to understand that a person has multiple sclerosis early on in this article.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease with unforeseeable symptoms that can differ in strength. While some individuals experience fatigue and numbness, severe cases of MS can cause paralysis, vision loss, and reduced brain function.
MS affects an approximated 2.3 million people worldwide. Women are affected more than two times as often as men, according to the National MS Society. Family history is likewise a significant risk factor.
What Is Multiple Sclerosis?
MS is a progressive, “immune-mediated” disorder. That means the system designed to keep your body healthy mistakenly attacks parts of your body that are essential to everyday function. The protective coverings of afferent neuron are damaged, which leads to decreased function in the brain and spinal cord.
Causes
The cause of MS mostly remains a secret, despite the fact that the disease was found in 1868. Scientists know the nerve damage is caused by inflammation, but the cause of the inflammation is still unknown.
See also: How To Know If I Have Multiple Sclerosis
Common Early Signs of MS
MS and Vision Problems
Visual problems are among the most typical symptoms of MS. Inflammation affects the optic nerve and disrupts central vision This can cause blurred, double, or loss of vision.
You might not discover the vision problems instantly, as degeneration of clear vision can be sluggish. Pain when you search for or to one side likewise can accompany vision.
Tingling and Numbness
MS impacts nerves in the brain and spine (the body’s message center). This means it can send out conflicting signals around the body. Sometimes, no signals are sent out. This results in numbness.
Tingling sensations and numbness are one of the most common indication of MS. Common websites of numbness include the face, arms, legs, and fingers.
Pain and Spasms
Chronic pain and uncontrolled muscle spasms are also typical with MS. One research study, according to the National MS Society, revealed that half of individuals with MS had chronic pain.
Muscle stiffness or convulsions (spasticity) are likewise common. You may experience stiff muscles or joints along with uncontrollable, painful jerking motions of the extremities. The legs are most often impacted, however back pain is likewise typical.
Fatigue and Weakness
Unusual tiredness and weakness affect about 80 percent of individuals in the early stages of MS.
Chronic tiredness happens when nerves weaken in the spinal column. Usually, the tiredness appears unexpectedly and lasts for weeks before improving. The weakness is most visible in the legs initially.
Balance Problems and Dizziness
Dizziness and problems with coordination and balance can reduce the mobility of somebody with MS. Your doctor may describe these as problems with your gait. People with MS often feel lightheaded, lightheaded, or feel as if their surroundings are spinning (vertigo). This symptom often takes place when a person stands.
Bladder, Bowel, and Sexual Dysfunction
An inefficient bladder is another symptom taking place in approximately 80 percent of people with MS. This can include urinating often, strong urges to urinate, or failure to hold in urine.
Urinary-related symptoms are typically workable. Less often, individuals with MS experience constipation, diarrhea, or loss of bowel control.
Sexual arousal can also be a problem for people with MS since it starts in the central nerve system– where MS attacks.
Cognitive Problems
About half of people with MS will establish some type of problem with their cognitive function. This can include:
- memory problems
- reduced attention span
- language problems
- trouble remaining organized.
Depression and other psychological health issue are likewise typical.
Emotional Health
Major depression is common amongst individuals with MS. The stresses of MS can also cause irritability, state of mind swings, and a condition called pseudobulbar affect. This involves bouts of uncontrollable crying and laughing.
Dealing with MS symptoms, in addition to relationship or family concerns, can make depression and other emotional disorders much more difficult.
Other Symptoms Multiple Sclerosis
Not everybody with MS will have the same symptoms. Different symptoms can manifest themselves during regressions or attacks. Together with the symptoms discussed on the previous slides, MS can likewise cause:
- hearing loss
- seizures
- unmanageable shaking
- breathing problems
- slurred speech
- difficulty swallowing
Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms in Women
Manifestations of the disease are vague and mimic many other neurological conditions. The clinical picture of MS is very diverse and depends on the form, course, and localization of the lesion. It happens that a woman has only one symptom. More often, several.
- Movement disorders. This is where multiple sclerosis most often begins. Motor disorders include paresis and paralysis. Paresis – incomplete impairment of voluntary limb movement. Paralysis – complete impairment, without the ability to move the limbs arbitrarily. This pathology is the main reason patients become disabled.
- Sensitivity disorders. So-called paresthesias – a burning, tingling sensation in the extremities, comparable to goose bumps or muscle spasm. Other types of sensitivity are also impaired: vibration, joint-muscle, temperature. Sensation may be reduced or completely absent.
- Visual pathology. Occurs because of changes in the optic nerve. Possible manifestations:
- decreased visual acuity;
- appearance of a blind section of the visual field – scotomas;
- Nystagmus – rapid uncontrolled movements of the eyeballs;
- Abnormal perception of color.
- Change of gait. It occurs when the foci of the pathological process are localized in the cerebellum. Sick women move slowly, awkwardly, spread their legs wide. The gait resembles the walk of a drunk person.
- Problems with urination. They are manifested by frequent urge to urinate, with progression – incontinence.
- Rapid fatigue. Women with MS get tired after even the simplest household chores. Prolonged rest doesn’t help. This is a manifestation of chronic fatigue syndrome.
- Spasticity. A very characteristic symptom of multiple sclerosis. It is manifested by a feeling of stiffness, tightness, unpleasant sensations in the muscles. Spasticity can lead to insomnia and anxiety.
- Pain syndrome. Patients report a variety of pains:
- in the lower extremities;
- pelvic region;
- headaches;
- Muscle and joint pains;
- pain in one side of the face (trigeminal neuralgia).
- Mood swings. Abrupt changes in emotions in a short period of time: from euphoria and happiness to suicidal thoughts. Patients become irritable and resentful.
- Seizures. Approximately 5% of patients experience epileptic seizures with seizures. Also observe the phenomenon of intensional tremor – convulsive trembling of the fingertips while performing any movement.
- Speech problems. Against the background of the disease, there is chanted speech – stretched in syllables, jerky, pauses occur in the middle of the word. When the brain stem is affected, speech becomes deaf and incomprehensible. The patient feels as if she is speaking with food in her mouth.
The very first changes can be noticed only by a neurologist during a clinical examination.
The first symptoms of multiple sclerosis in men
The first signs of the onset of the disease are vague and are identified by a neurologist. These may include:
- Disappearance of abdominal reflexes
- Asymmetrical tendon reflexes
- Decreased sensitivity to vibration
- Rarely: neuroses, urinary retention.
MS in men does not have any one clear clinical picture. The debut of the disease is its first exacerbation.
Possible manifestations of multiple sclerosis in men:
- Paresis, paralysis. The most striking symptom of MS. Associated with damage to the pyramidal tract. Paresis is the inability to perform voluntary movements. In paresis, the ability to make voluntary movements is partially retained.
- Eye disorders. Perception of color changes, visual fields drop out and visual acuity decreases. Some patients have vertical nystagmus – tremor of the eyeballs.
- Sensitivity disorders. The patient feels tingling, numbness in different parts of the body. Vibration and joint-muscular sensitivity decreases. Changes in temperature and surface sensitivity occur less frequently.
- Intrinsic tremor. Trembling of the fingertips during voluntary movements, which begins when the movement is completed. A characteristic sign of cerebellar lesions.
- Pain. Can be acute and chronic. Possible manifestations of the pain syndrome:
- Trinic neuralgia – pain along the course of the trigeminal nerve, usually one half of the face;
- Headaches: like tension headaches or migraines;
- Pain in the lower extremities;
- Joint and muscle pain.
- Fatigue. Chronic fatigue syndrome appears. Patients tire quickly and are not helped by prolonged rest.
- Emotional instability. Mood swings from euphoria to depression. The patient is irritated by any little thing, or vice versa, does not react to anything.
- Speech disorders. A characteristic feature is chanted speech. The patient speaks slowly, intermittently, and pauses not only after words, but also after separate syllables.
- Spasticity. Muscle tone increases. The patient feels stiffness in the body. A convulsive trembling appears.
- Epileptic seizures. Only 5% of people with MS have them.
Statistics show that the course of this disease will be favorable if the first manifestations began with eye disorders. If paresis, paralysis, and gait disturbances were the debut, however, the prognosis is unfavorable.
Development and Severity
MS often surprises doctors since of how much it can differ in both its intensity and the ways that it impacts people. Attacks can last a few weeks and after that vanish. However, relapses can get gradually even worse, more unforeseeable, and include various symptoms. Early detection might help prevent MS from progressing quickly.
Is MS Hereditary?
MS isn’t necessarily hereditary. Nevertheless, you have a greater opportunity of developing the disease if you have a close relative with MS, according to the National MS Society.
The general population only has a tenth of a percent possibility of establishing MS. But the number jumps to 2.5 to 5 percent if you have a sibling or parent with MS.
Heredity isn’t really the only consider identifying MS. A twin only has a 25 percent possibility of developing MS if their twin has the disease. While genes is definitely a risk aspect, it’s not the only one.
How Diagnosis Multiple Sclerosis
A doctor — probably a neurologist — will carry out a number of tests to diagnose MS, including:
- neurological examination: your doctor will look for impaired nerve function
- eye examination: a series of tests to examine your vision and look for eye illness
- magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): a strategy that uses an effective magnetic field and radio waves to develop cross-sectional images of the brain and spine
- spine tap (also called a lumbar leak): a test including a long needle that’s inserted into your spine to remove a sample of fluid circulating around your brain and spine.
Medical professionals use these tests to search for damage to the central nerve system in two separate areas. They must also determine that at least one month has actually passed in between the episodes that caused damage. These tests are likewise used to eliminate other conditions.
Conclusion
Multiple sclerosis is often a diagnosis of exclusion. Why? First, it is a rare disease that a physician does not always think about right away. Second, because the area affected is the CNS (central nervous system), there is a wide range of symptoms, from persistent weakness and vision problems to gait disturbances and urinary incontinence. We tell you what can be confused with multiple sclerosis and what are the peculiarities of its clinical picture.
But now that you know the different symptoms of multiple sclerosis, you can bring them to the attention of your doctor and make the necessary diagnosis as early as possible.
