What is the number one symptom of MS?

Fatigue. Feeling fatigued is one of the most common and troublesome symptoms of MS. It's often described as an overwhelming sense of exhaustion that means it can be a struggle to carry out even the simplest activities.

What does MS feel like in the beginning?

Numbness or Tingling

A lack of feeling or a pins-and-needles sensation can be the first sign of the nerve damage from MS. It usually happens in the face, arms, or legs, and on one side of the body. It also tends to go away on its own.

What are 4 early signs of MS?

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.

Where does MS usually start?

Here's where MS (typically) starts

Optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve, is usually the most common, Shoemaker says. You may experience eye pain, blurred vision and headache. It often occurs on one side and can eventually lead to partial or total vision loss.

What part of the body does MS affect first?

Visual problems are often the first symptoms associated with MS. The optic (eye) nerve can become inflamed (optic neuritis) as the optic nerve is a common area where damage to the protective covering of nerves (demyelination) occurs. More than half of people with MS will experience at least one issue with vision.

Early Identification and Diagnosis of MS

Does MS show up in blood work?

Blood Tests: Currently, there are no definitive blood tests for diagnosing MS, but they can be used to rule out other conditions that may mimic MS symptoms, including Lyme disease, collagen-vascular diseases, rare hereditary disorders and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

How do you confirm MS diagnosis?

What triggers MS?

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.

What age usually gets MS?

It's most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s, 30s and 40s although it can develop at any age. It's about 2 to 3 times more common in women than men. MS is one of the most common causes of disability in younger adults.

What autoimmune disease is 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.

When do you start showing signs of MS?

MS is an immune-mediated disease affecting the brain and spinal cord, also called the central nervous system (CNS). MS can appear at any age but most commonly manifests between the ages of 20 and 40. It affects women two to three times as often as men.

Who gets multiple sclerosis?

Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, although MS can occur in young children and older adults. Where is MS most commonly found? In general, MS is more common in areas farthest from the equator.

What are the facial symptoms of multiple sclerosis?

Usually, MS facial twitching affects one side of your face at a time. And you may notice other facial symptoms first, like numbness, tingling, weakness, or other weird sensations. “People will usually say, 'My face feels swollen, but I look in the mirror and it's not swollen,'” Stoll says.

What are the obvious signs of MS?

Does MS cause weight gain?

MS fatigue, steroid therapy, and depression can all lead to unwanted weight in people with MS. Though these factors are not your fault, you owe it to yourself to take control of your weight. Overeating can increase MS symptoms or health conditions, such as: fatigue.

What two parts of the body does MS affect?

In people with MS, the immune system attacks cells in the myelin, the protective sheath that surrounds nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Damage to the myelin sheath interrupts nerve signals from your brain to other parts of your body. The damage can lead to symptoms affecting your brain, spinal cord and eyes.

What is the average life expectancy for someone with MS?

The study found that people with MS lived to be 75.9 years old, on average, compared to 83.4 years old for those without. That 7.5-year difference is similar to what other researchers have found recently.

What is the oldest age to be diagnosed with MS?

Most people start to get MS symptoms between 20 and 40 years old. But sometimes, you won't have any MS symptoms until you're 50 or older. When this happens, doctors call it later-onset multiple sclerosis (LOMS).

Who is at high risk for MS?

Several studies have shown that obesity in childhood and adolescence, particularly in girls, increased the risk of later developing MS. Other studies have shown that obesity in early adulthood may also contribute to an increased risk of developing MS.

What foods cause MS flare ups?

What vitamins should you avoid with MS?

High doses of other vitamins can antagonize your immune-modulating, immunosuppressive therapies used to manage MS. Supplements that stimulate the immune system should be avoided in high doses. Those include selenium, zinc, B1, B2, folic acid, B6, vitamin A, biotin, magnesium, copper, and manganese.

How can a neurologist tell if you have MS?

Neurological examination

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.

Can an eye test detect MS?

MS causes the immune system to attack nerve fibers and causes miscommunication between the brain and other parts of the body. When your optometrist detects optic nerve inflammation, that can indicate a diagnosis of MS.

How do you rule out MS?

Where is MS headache located?

Cluster headaches have been linked to MS lesions in the brainstem, especially in the part where the trigeminal nerve originates. 7 This is the nerve involved with trigeminal neuralgia—one of the most painful MS symptoms.