What conditions can mimic MS?

What is MS commonly mistaken for?

Fibromyalgia and MS have some similar symptoms, including headaches, joint and muscle pain, numbness and tingling of extremities, memory problems, and fatigue. Like MS, fibromyalgia is more common in women than in men.

What health conditions mimic MS?

These include fibromyalgia and vitamin B12 deficiency, muscular dystrophy (MD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), migraine, hypo-thyroidism, hypertension, Beçhets, Arnold-Chiari deformity, and mitochondrial disorders, although your neurologist can usually rule them out quite easily.

What can mimic MS on an MRI?

Some of the most common mimics include migraine and chronic cerebrovascular disease, according to Dr Schiess. Vasculitic autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren's syndrome can also result in white matter abnormalities on MRI.

How do you rule out MS?

Neurologist Discusses Diseases Which May Mimic MS

What other symptoms have MS but no lesions?

About 5 percent of people who are confirmed to have MS do not initially have brain lesions evidenced by MRI. However, the longer a person goes without brain or spinal cord lesions on MRI, the more important it becomes to look for other possible diagnoses.

Can anxiety symptoms mimic MS?

Unfortunately, anxiety causes many of the same symptoms as the early stages of MS. MS is one of the health issues that comes up most when those with anxiety search for their symptoms online, and millions of those with anxiety convince themselves that they might have MS.

Can fibromyalgia mimic MS?

Fatigue, or feeling tired all the time, is a common symptom of MS and fibromyalgia. Other similarities include: Age.

What causes brain lesions other than MS?

Stroke, vascular injury, or impaired supply of blood to the brain is perhaps the leading cause of lesions on the brain. Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease where brain lesions are located in multiple sites of the brain.

How often is MS misdiagnosed?

The misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) is a problem with significant consequences for patients as well as the healthcare system. There are nearly 1 million people in the United States living with the disease. And researchers now say nearly 20 percent of them are misdiagnosed.

Can magnesium deficiency mimic MS?

Many studies have found people with MS to be more deficient in various vitamins and minerals than the average rooster. If you put in a web search for MS and magnesium, a host of links will appear, dozens of which tout magnesium deficiency as the true “cause” of MS.

Is Sjogren's similar to MS?

Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease that can mimic some of the symptoms of MS such as fatigue and joint pain. However, Sjogren's syndrome is known to cause dry mouth and eyes, which are not associated with MS.

Can Sjogren's mimic MS?

Abstract. Background: Primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) with central nervous system involvement and antiphospholipid syndrome have been reported to mimic multiple sclerosis (MS). SS has also been found in patients diagnosed with definite MS.

Can Guillain Barre Syndrome be mistaken for MS?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) are diseases of the nervous system. They're not the same, but they do have a lot of similarities. Both MS and GBS are autoimmune diseases. This means they cause your body's immune system to attack its own tissues.

Can you miss MS on MRI?

MRI is considered the best test to help diagnose MS. However, 5% of people with MS do not have abnormalities detected on MRI; thus, a "negative" scan does not completely rule out MS. In addition, some common changes of aging may look like MS on a MRI. To track the progress of disease.

Does white matter mean MS?

White Matter Consists Mainly of Nerve Fibers

In MS, the immune system attacks the myelin in the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. The attack causes inflammation that eventually leads to sclerosis, which is the medical term for scarring. (That's how MS got its name.)

Can white matter lesions be nothing?

Studies have found that white matter lesions appear in some degree on brain scans of most older adults but less often in younger people. White matter lesions are among the most common incidental findings—which means the lesions have no clinical significance—on brain scans of people of any age.

Can you have demyelination without MS?

Other non-MS demyelinating disorders

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) — A separate disease from MS that shares several clinical features. NMO most often causes visual changes in both eyes and symptoms caused by long lesions in the spinal cord.

What does MS neuropathy feel like?

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.

Do I have MS or fibromyalgia?

Symptoms That MS and Fibro Have in Common

It can be acute or mild, and may be related to neurological issues or musculoskeletal problems. Occasionally, some MS patients do not develop pain. For fibro patients, pain is a defining aspect of the disease. Without its presence, you cannot get a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

What is MS hug?

The 'MS hug' is an MS symptom where you feel pain or tightness around the chest or stomach area. It's not dangerous, but it can be frightening, especially if you haven't come across it before.

Can MS be mistaken for lupus?

While it's unlikely to have both MS and lupus, it's common for someone with MS to be incorrectly diagnosed with lupus because these diseases share common symptoms. Aside from lupus, MS actually has several other “mimic” conditions, including Lyme disease.

Does MS show up as inflammation in blood work?

While there is no definitive blood test for MS, blood tests can rule out other conditions that cause symptoms similar to those of MS, including lupus erythematosis, Sjogren's, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, some infections, and rare hereditary diseases.

Can a CT scan detect MS?

CT scans may be used to exclude other causes of neurologic impairment, but they have a low positive predictive value in the diagnosis of MS; thus, the false-negative rate is high.

Can MS be detected on EEG?

A possible method of finding physiological markers of multiple sclerosis (MS) is the application of EEG quantification (QEEG) of brain activity when the subject is stressed by the demands of a cognitive task.