Ms symptoms checklist for a doctors appointment

Something-and no one has been able to determine what exactly-triggers the immune system to attack the brain and spinal cord, stripping the protective cover of myelin from the nerve cells and fibers and causing lesions. No one knows why or how someone develops MS. вЂњThe MS community identifies with that because outside, you may appear fine, but youвЂ™re dealing with all of this fatigue and cognitive trouble.вЂќ вЂњItвЂ™s very common for friends and family to say, вЂBut you look so good,вЂ™вЂќ said Rahn. (Others can include pain, loss of sensation or numbness, paralysis, bowel/bladder problems, vision problems or blindness, even sexual dysfunction.) But thatвЂ™s another reason MS can be so hard to diagnose-because the usual symptoms tend to be harder for those on the outside to see.

ItвЂ™s a lot higher than previously suspected.вЂќД«lairвЂ™s crippling fatigue and cognitive problems are typical symptoms. вЂњBut it can go unrecognized for years.вЂќДЄdded Rahn, вЂњThe incidence of MS in the United States according to the Multiple Sclerosis Society is over 1 million people. It can occur in children and teens, and those older than 50,вЂќ said Smith. вЂњMS is diagnosed most commonly in the ages between 20 and 50. Suzanne Smith and assistant director Rebecca Rahn, both of the Augusta MS Center at Augusta University Health. Like, вЂOh, good, IвЂ™ll be able to do something.вЂ™вЂќД«lairвЂ™s experience isnвЂ™t that unusual, say Dr. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken GPSвЂ¦itвЂ™s a drag, literally.вЂќД«ut when she finally had an MRI and a neurologist identified about 20 MS lesions on her brain, she said, вЂњI cried with some relief. She thought it was a pinched nerve-and, even for her, a Hollywood actress whom you might expect to get the best of the best health care, it was a challenge to get doctors to take her symptoms seriously. ThatвЂ™s how long actress Selma Blair struggled with undiagnosed flare-ups of multiple sclerosis.

Ms symptoms checklist for a doctors appointment