Multiple Sclerosis Signs & Symptoms
Due to the fact that multiple sclerosis is a progressive disease that affects the nerves of the brain and spinal chord, it can produce a wide variety of numerous symptoms that primarily depend upon what specific nerves are affected.
Multiple sclerosis is typically difficult to diagnose in its beginning stages because of the fact that the symptoms will come and go and may remain dormant for months at a time. This disease typically begins to develop in individuals who are between the ages of twenty and forty years old and tends to occur in more women than men; however, it can develop at any age.
- Early Signs and Symptoms
In the early stages of multiple sclerosis an individual may begin to experience a tingling sensation or pain in some areas of the body. An individual may also experience numbness that will only occur on one side of their body at a time or this numbness may only affect the lower half of the body.
Vision problems are also a common symptom of the onset of MS and the sufferer will experience blurry vision, double vision, or a loss of vision in one eye and pain within the eye during movement. Weakness is also another common symptom of multiple sclerosis and may occur in only one limb or multiple limbs and the individual may also experience a loss of their balance at times.
- Symptoms that occur during the Later Stages
The disease of multiple sclerosis is progressive and causes the slow deterioration of the nerves within the spinal chord and brain; therefore as the nerves become increasingly more damaged over time, symptoms and complications that are more severe will develop. These include extreme fatigue that not only affects the individual physically, but mentally as well.
The muscle weakness will become more significant and the muscles will also spasm at times or become stiff. Dizziness may occur that causes the patient to feel off balance or have vertigo which is the sensation that everything is spinning around them.
Many individuals in the later stages of MS will also have significant issues with their memory and thought process. This will cause the inability to reason correctly and remember important events and dates as well as cause an impairment of cognitive skills.
Another common symptom that occurs in many patients with multiple sclerosis is a sensitivity to heat that interferes with things like taking a hot shower. Walking may also be difficult primarily due to muscle weakness, dizziness, or the numbness that can occur in the feet. Speech and swallowing can also become difficult when the nerves that control these functions become damaged by MS.
The signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis often are triggered or become more significant when an individual experiences an increase in body temperature. In most cases multiple sclerosis is not diagnosed until an individual seeks help for two or more of these symptoms.
These symptoms do not always indicate that an individual has multiple sclerosis as they can also be indicative of many other conditions or diseases, however, if you are experiencing any of these signs or symptoms it is essential that you contact your primary care physician or health care provider for an evaluation as soon as possible.
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