Symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary
greatly from person to person and from time to time in the
same person.
MS attacks the protective covering —
myelin — of the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation
and often damaging the myelin in patches. When this happens,
the usual flow of nerve impulses along nerve fibres (axons)
is interrupted or distorted. The result may be the wide variety
of MS symptoms, depending upon what part or parts of the central
nervous system are affected.
The damaged parts of myelin are often called
“lesions” or “plaques”. There is also
evidence that permanent damage to nerve fibres may occur in
association with the attack on myelin.
While the following list of symptoms can
seem daunting, particularly to people who are newly diagnosed,
there are treatments to help manage most of these symptoms.
