The weakness often occurs only on one side of your body or just in your legs or trunk. Weakness, like other MS symptoms, may come and go as you experience flare-ups and remissions during the course of the disease. When nerve fibers are damaged, your brain can’t effectively send your muscles the signals they need to flex or contract.
How does multiple sclerosis (MS) affect the body?
In multiple sclerosis (MS), damage to nerve fibers in the central nervous system impairs the signaling that occurs between your nerves and muscles. As a result, muscle weakness, spasticity, and a loss of coordination may occur.
What are the symptoms of weakness in MS?
Weakness. Muscle weakness, which is common in MS, can occur in any part of the body. The first step in managing weakness effectively is to determine what is causing it. Deconditioning of muscles results from lack of use. Often in MS, due to fatigue, pain, imbalance, or other symptoms, a person’s overall activity level is reduced.
Is it common for MS symptoms to be on only one side?
What is common are symptoms only on one side, as in arm, leg, foot. A single lesion could cause these. As MS progresses, it's normal for both sides to show damage, just not symmetrically.
What are the signs of nerve damage from MS?
It helps to know what else can explain some of the signs you might be feeling. A lack of feeling or a pins-and-needles sensation can be the first sign of the nerve damage from MS. It usually happens in the face, arms, or legs, and on one side of the body. It also tends to go away on its own.
Does MS cause sudden weakness?
Sudden weakness, especially in an arm or leg, is an MS symptom. If you feel weak all over, odds are there's another problem at play. You may be fighting off a cold or the flu. Or you may have too few red blood cells in your body, a condition called anemia.
What does MS weakness feel like?
What is weakness in MS? Weakness is a common symptom in multiple sclerosis. You may feel that you do not have enough strength or energy to move some or all of your limbs, or your whole body. Weakness and fatigue are closely linked and having one often makes the other symptoms worse.
Can MS symptoms be one sided?
Here's where MS (typically) starts You may experience eye pain, blurred vision and headache. It often occurs on one side and can eventually lead to partial or total vision loss.
Does weakness come and go in MS?
The weakness often occurs only on one side of your body or just in your legs or trunk. Weakness, like other MS symptoms, may come and go as you experience flare-ups and remissions during the course of the disease.
Does MS affect both sides of body?
Altered sensations can occur in any part of the body, most commonly in the face, body, arms or legs, but may also include the genital area in both men and women. It may occur on just one side of the body or on both sides.
Why does the right side of my body feel weak?
Muscle weakness can be a sign of several different health issues. With that said, when it occurs on only one side of the body, there's reason for alarm. Many times, this symptom is a sign of a stroke, which occurs when arterial blockages interrupt blood flow to the brain.
When should you suspect multiple sclerosis?
People should consider the diagnosis of MS if they have one or more of these symptoms: vision loss in one or both eyes. acute paralysis in the legs or along one side of the body. acute numbness and tingling in a limb.
Is MS bilateral or unilateral?
An INO results from damage to the medial longitudinal fasciculus, a white matter tract, which traverses most of the brainstem. Bilateral INO in a young person is virtually diagnostic of MS. A unilateral INO is often vascular in origin and is usually caused by a stroke in an elderly person.
What does MS neuropathy feel like?
Neuropathic pain happens from “short circuiting” of the nerves that carry signals from the brain to the body because of damage from MS. These pain sensations feel like burning, stabbing, sharp and squeezing sensations.
How does MS feel in your legs?
The weakness can make your legs feel heavy, as if they are being weighed down by something. They may also ache and hurt. Some people with MS describe it as like having bags of sand attached to their legs. This muscle weakness combined with MS fatigue can be upsetting.
Can you have a clear MRI and still have MS?
Although MRI is a very useful diagnostic tool, a normal MRI of the brain does not rule out the possibility of MS. About 5 percent of people who are confirmed to have MS do not initially have brain lesions evidenced by MRI.
Does MS numbness come and go throughout the day?
It can often feel like numbness and tingling come on spontaneously. This means that it has no apparent trigger. As mentioned earlier, altered sensations like numbness and tingling are often an early sign of MS. However, these sensations can come or go at any point.
Why is my MS so weak?
Often in MS, due to fatigue, pain, imbalance, or other symptoms, a person’s overall activity level is reduced. Lack of activity will cause muscles to become weak. For this type of weakness, progressive resistive exercise with weights can be very effective.
What is muscle weakness in MS?
Muscle weakness, which is common in MS, can occur in any part of the body. The first step in managing weakness effectively is to determine what is causing it. Deconditioning of muscles results from lack of use. Often in MS, due to fatigue, pain, imbalance, or other symptoms, a person’s overall activity level is reduced.
What can a physical therapist do to help with weakness?
A physical therapist can recommend a weight-training program that fits abilities. Damage to the nerve fibers (demyelination) in the spinal cord and brain that stimulate the muscles can also cause weakness. The muscles are not receiving the nerve impulses they require in order to work effectively – which often results in decreased endurance.
Where does MS weakness occur?
The weakness often occurs only on one side of your body or just in your legs or trunk. Weakness, like other MS symptoms, may come and go as you experience flare-ups and remissions during the course of the disease.
Why do muscles get weaker with MS?
Even muscles that aren’t directly affected by MS can become weak if symptoms like fatigue and pain prevent you from moving and exercising them. Over time, your muscles can get weaker and weaker. Some people with MS find that their muscles tire more easily than usual.
What to do if you have muscle weakness?
You may need to try different treatments until you find one that relieves your muscle weakness and other symptoms. Those treatments may include a combination of medication, physical therapy, and assistive devices. If one type of therapy isn’t effective, go back to your doctor with any concerns.
What happens when you have multiple sclerosis?
When you have multiple sclerosis (MS), your immune system attacks your nerves. It destroys myelin, an insulating substance that surrounds and protects nerve fibers. As myelin is damaged, scar tissue can form on the nerves. This can prevent nerve signals from traveling correctly from your brain to certain parts of your body.
How to avoid being isolated from MS?
Without support, you may start to feel isolated. To avoid this, stay connected with friends and family, join a support group, and engage in enjoyable activities and hobbies.
How to treat MS symptoms?
In addition, the following steps can help relieve MS symptoms: 1 maintaining an adequate sleep and rest routine 2 reducing stress 3 keeping your body temperature cool 4 eating a healthy, balanced diet
What is the best treatment for muscle weakness?
glatiramer acetate (Copaxone) muscle relaxants. Exercise is another important component of your treatment. A combination of cardio and strength-training exercises can combat muscle weakness and give you more energy. If your muscles have become weak from lack of use, resistance exercises using weights can strengthen them.
How do you know if you have MS?
People with MS might hear this phrase a lot -- the disease can damage the part of your brain that controls speech. Here are the main symptoms: Slurred words. Nasal speech, or sounding like you have a cold. Long pauses between words or syllables, called scanning speech.
When do you start to feel MS symptoms?
First, keep in mind that most people have the first signs of the disease between the ages of 20 and 40. You can also keep track of your problems: MS symptoms tend to come and go or get worse over time. It helps to know what else can explain some of the signs you might be feeling.
What does it mean when you have weakness on one side of your body?
Weakness on just one side of the body can be from something mild like a pinched nerve or a serious problem like a stroke. If it happens along with other symptoms, like a drooping face or slurred speech, call 911 right away. Learn about conditions that look like a stroke. Blurred or Loss of Vision.
Why do my hands feel numb?
Numbness and tingling can also come from a lack of blood flow or a pinched nerve, so think first if you slept in a funny position or sat without moving for a long time. Other conditions can also lead to nerve damage: Carpal tunnel syndrome affects the wrist, while diabetic neuropathy can trigger numbness, tingling, or pain in the feet or hands. ...
Is MS fatigue bad?
But a number of things can make you feel exhausted, including a sleep disorder, depression, or too little iron in your blood. MS fatigue tends to be worse than run-of-the- mill sluggishness.
Is MS fatigue worse than sluggishness?
MS fatigue tends to be worse than run-of-the-mill sluggishness. You may not have the energy to do even simple things, like cook dinner or take the dog for a walk. Other signs include: You feel wiped out every day. You’re tired in the morning, even after a good night’s sleep, and it gets worse as the day goes on.
My legs get so tired
While I do have occasional weakness in my arms, weakness in my legs occurs far more frequently. When this happens I feel like my legs are weighed down with something much like bags of sand. They are heavy and they get tired so easily! I now enjoy fitness, so this is something that can make that difficult at times.
MS leg weakness and fatigue
Technically, fatigue and weakness have 2 different definitions. Weakness is a lack of muscle or physical strength and the feeling that extra effort is needed to move. Fatigue is a feeling of tiredness or exhaustion because of a lack of energy or sleep. But in these cases, I feel like they are one and the same.
Buzzing and burning
I notice it hits me the most when I get overheated. On hot days, my legs tire rapidly; they go from 0 to 10 on the weakness scale in no time. I can be walking outside one second, and the next it’s an extreme effort to keep standing because the weakness in my legs is excruciating. It’s an odd sensation, really.
Coping with leg weakness
They’re so tired it is painful, and I have to sit down for a second to alleviate the uncomfortable feeling it brings. For lack of better words, I hate it. In most of these cases, I have to just rest until the feeling subsides, but sometimes even when I try to continue walking it lingers.
Prioritizing rest
Like I said, this isn’t a quick fix. Sometimes resting my legs when they’re overwhelmed with weakness only helps temporarily, but when your body is communicating that it needs rest I feel it is important to listen to those cues.
Make things easier on yourself
When I’m working out and doing things to strengthen my legs, I can’t do them like everyone else. When you’re doing exercises like lunges or squats, sometimes you need extra stability so they don’t tire as quickly. I have found that holding onto something, especially when performing lunges, helps my legs stay stronger longer.
Do strength exercises
This is the one thing that is helped me the most. When I first began working out, I couldn’t do a squat for the life of me. My legs were too weak for me to squat low enough for them to be effective on my own, so like my lunging tip, I had to hold onto something. If I didn’t, I would surely fall.
What are the symptoms of MS?
Weakness. Spasticity. Loss of Coordination. In multiple sclerosis (MS), damage to nerve fibers in the central nervous system impairs the signaling that occurs between your nerves and muscles. As a result, muscle weakness, spa sticity, and a loss of coordination may occur. You may experience some of these issues early in your disease course (and they ...
What is muscle weakness in MS?
Weakness. Muscle weakness in MS is more than simply having a lack of energy or not having the strength to lift a heavy dumbbell. Rather, it's having genuine difficulty moving your muscles, almost like they are too wobbly or tired to work.
How to treat balance problems in MS?
Treating balance problems in MS involves a thorough examination by your doctor to decipher the primary cause. For example, if muscle weakness is the likely culprit behind your loss of coordination, then an assistive device like a cane or walker may be useful, as well as performing exercises that strengthen certain muscles in your legs and trunk. 2
What is the cause of MS foot drop?
3 Foot drop occurs as a result of poor nerve signaling to the muscles used to flex your foot, causing patients to drag their feet and/or toes while walking.
What are the causes of muscle spasms?
Common ones include excessive heat, a rise in your body's internal temperature (for example, fever), a full bladder, and irritating or tight clothes. Treating infections and pain promptly can also help prevent muscle spasms and stiffness.
What is the best medicine for muscle spasms?
Unlike with muscle weakness, there are medications that can ease spasms and stiffness, and they work by relaxing the muscles. Some of these medications include: 10 1 Muscle relaxants like baclofen and Zanaflex (tizanidine) 2 Benzodiazepines like Valium (diazepam)
Why do my muscles feel tight?
In MS, increased muscle tone or muscle tightness (spasticity) occurs as a result of loss of myelin sheath (demyelination) in the pathways that carry motor signals from the brain. Due to these damaged pathways, nerve signaling to the muscles is slowed, which can cause a person's muscles to harden and clench up on their own.
What does it mean when you have weakness on one side of your body?
With that said, when it occurs on only one side of the body, there’s reason for alarm. Many times, this symptom is a sign of a stroke, which occurs when arterial blockages interrupt blood flow to the brain.
Can a stroke cause weakness in the arms?
Even minor weakness in the arms or legs can be a sign of a stroke, which can prove fatal without medical help. Likewise, since over two-thirds of stroke survivors experience some type of disability, it’s important to get quick attention to minimize these negative effects. Other Potential Causes.
Why is my MS so weak?
Often in MS, due to fatigue, pain, imbalance, or other symptoms, a person's overall activity level is reduced. Lack of activity will cause the muscles affected by MS, as well as those that are not affected by the disease, to become weak.
What causes respiratory problems in MS patients?
In MS, the most common cause of respiratory problems is loss of muscle strength and endurance. Just as a person can experience muscle weakness in the arms or legs, weakness can occur in the ventilatory muscles of the chest and abdomen that are involved in breathing.
What are the symptoms of weakness in the chest?
Symptoms depend on which muscles are affected, like when weakness affects muscles of the chest, people may have difficulty breathing or when weakness affects muscles that control the eyes, people may have double vision. Complete muscle weakness causes paralysis.
What causes weakness in older people?
The most common causes of generalized weakness are: A decrease in general physical fitness (called deconditioning), which may result from illness and/or a decrease in physical reserves (frailty), such as muscle mass, bone density, and the heart's and lungs' ability to function, especially in older people.
What does it mean when you feel weak?
Weakness refers to loss of muscle strength where people can't move a muscle normally despite trying as hard as they can. However, the term is often misused when people with normal muscle strength say they feel weak when they feel tired or when their movement is limited because of pain or joint stiffness. For a person to intentionally move ...
What is the loss of muscle strength?
The loss can range from reduced dexterity to paralysis of an arm or leg. The loss of muscle strength occurs not only in the for of relapses, but also as a gradual process without recovery. Depending on the severity, an assistive devise may be required. Respiration.
Can weakness affect all muscles?
Weakness may develop suddenly or gradually. Weakness may affect all of the muscles in the body (called general ized weak ness) or only one part of the body. For example, depending on where the spinal cord is damaged, spinal cord disorders may cause weakness only of the legs.
