MS Active Source

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Common Symptoms

How MS affects you will be very different to how it affects someone else. This is because the CNS controls many different functions throughout the body. The symptoms you get will depend on which part of the CNS is damaged and what processes in the body it helps to maintain. The symptoms you can get with MS can be divided into three main groups: (ref nd5)

  • Symptoms that affect your senses: You might get numbness or tingling often affecting the hands and feet, or part of your body may feel burning hot or cold for no reason. If your eyes are affected you might get blurred vision.
  • Symptoms that affect your movement: You may feel weak and lose control over the movement of some muscles. This may mean you lose your balance or coordination or you find it hard to hold something steady in your hands. As the disease progresses the muscles that control the bladder and bowels and sexual function may be affected.
  • Symptoms that affect your thinking and memory: You might find it hard to concentrate, forget things more often or have mood swings. You might hear these referred to a ‘cognitive symptoms’.

Fatigue is probably the most common symptom of MS and will be experienced by the majority of patients.

You might be alarmed to read about all these symptoms. But MS tends to be a condition that fluctuates. Your symptoms will probably come and go, lasting perhaps a few days at a time and then disappearing for some months. When you get symptoms it’s known as an attack.

It is also worth noting there is no relationship between cognitive problems and physical symptoms. A person with no physical symptoms may experience cognitive difficulties, whilst someone else may experience only physical symptoms (ref nd7). 

Did you know?

MS affects about three times as many women as men.

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Page last updated: 29 Jun 2009

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