Multiple Sclerosis may Cause Myriad of Symptoms

People with newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis are found to experience a myriad of significant symptoms that often cluster together as per a study at the Michigan Medicine - the University Of Michigan, published in Multiple Sclerosis Journal. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating autoimmune neurological condition that commonly affects the myelin sheath (outer fatty cover of nerves), brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord.

It results in a range of incapacitating symptoms that differ from one person to another such as unsteadiness, blurred vision, tingling sensations, memory problems, and fatigue.

The present study analyzed data from almost 230 patients with MS by collecting questionnaires at six intervals in the first year of diagnosis.

Cluster of Symptoms

Almost half of the patients reported pain symptoms, 62.6% felt fatigued, 47.4% experienced depression symptoms, 38.7% had anxiety symptoms, and 60% of them experiencing a cluster of two or more of the observed ailments in the first year. Only one-fifth of all participants had no symptoms.

“The months following MS diagnosis are often a stressful period of uncertainty and change. Our findings highlight the importance of early and routine assessment of patients’ symptoms, so that those patients who might benefit from treatment can be identified and receive appropriate care,” says Thomas Valentine, Ph.D., lead author of the paper and multiple sclerosis rehabilitation research fellow at Michigan Medicine.

The trajectory of patient symptoms was also found to be fluctuating throughout the one-year observational period. However, the team concludes that future studies are required to examine the changes in the severity of the symptom over time concerning its treatment.

Source-Medindia