Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis

What are the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS)?
Symptoms of MS are erratic. They may be mild or severe, of long duration or short. They may appear in various combinations, depending on the area of the nervous system affected.

Initial Symptoms of MS
The following are often initial symptoms of MS:

• blurred or double vision
• red-green color distortion
• pain and loss of vision due to optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve
• difficulty walking
• paresthesia (abnormal sensation, or pain, such as numbness, prickling, or "pins and needles")

Other Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis
Throughout the course of the illness, an individual may experience any/all of the following symptoms, to a varying degree:

• muscle weakness in the extremities
• difficulty with coordination (impaired walking or standing may result, partial or complete paralysis is possible)
• spasticity (the involuntary increased tone of muscles leading to stiffness and spasms)
• fatigue (this may be triggered by physical activity, but subside with rest - constant, persistent fatigue is possible)
• loss of sensation
• speech impediments
• tremor
• dizziness
• hearing loss

Approximately fifty percent of all people with MS experience cognitive impairments related to their disease. The effects of these impairments may be mild, often detectable only after comprehensive testing, and may include difficulty with the any/all of the following:

• concentration
• attention
• memory
• poor judgment

Primary, secondary, and tertiary symptom categories of MS

primary symptoms - a direct result of demyelination, the destruction of myelin -- the fatty sheath that surrounds and insulates nerve fibers in the central nervous system.

• weakness
• numbness
• tremor
• loss of vision
• pain
• paralysis
• loss of balance
• bladder and bowel dysfunction

secondary symptoms - complications that arise as a result of the primary symptoms, for example:

• paralysis can lead to bedsores
• bladder dysfunction may cause repeated urinary tract infections
• inactivity can result in:

• disuse weakness
• poor postural alignment and trunk control
• muscle imbalances
• decreased bone density
• shallow, inefficient breathing

tertiary symptoms - the social, vocational, and psychological complications of the primary and secondary symptoms, for example:

• a person who becomes unable to walk or drive may lose his or her livelihood
• strain of dealing with a chronic neurologic illness may disrupt personal relationships
• depression is often seen among people with MS