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February 3, 2012
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Multiple Sclerosis

Medical Author:
Fernando Dangond, MD
Medical Editor:
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

What Are Some of the Signs and Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS)?

  1. Most people experience their first symptoms of MS between the ages of 20 and 40; the initial symptom of MS is often blurred or double vision, red-green color distortion, or even blindness in one eye.
  2. Most MS patients experience muscle weakness in their extremities and difficulty with coordination and balance. These symptoms may be severe enough to impair walking or even standing. In the worst cases, MS can produce partial or complete paralysis.
  3. Most people with MS also exhibit paresthesias, transitory abnormal sensory feelings such as numbness, prickling, or "pins and needles" sensations.
  4. Some may also experience pain.
  5. Speech impediments, tremors, and dizziness are other frequent complaints.
  6. Occasionally, people with MS have hearing loss.
  7. Approximately half of all people with MS experience cognitive impairments such as difficulties with concentration, attention, memory, and poor judgment, but such symptoms are usually mild and are frequently overlooked.
  8. Depression is another common feature of MS.

Read more in-depth information about multiple sclerosis symptoms and signs »

SOURCE: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. NINDS Multiple Sclerosis Information Page.

Multiple Sclerosis Overview

Multiple sclerosis (MS) can be thought of as an inflammatory process involving different areas of the central nervous system (CNS) at various points in time. As the name suggests, multiple sclerosis affects many areas of the CNS.

  • Multiple sclerosis is more common in individuals of northern European descent.

  • Women are more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis as men.

  • Multiple sclerosis usually affects people between the ages of 20 and 50 years, and the average age of onset is approximately 34 years.

The Central Nervous System and Multiple Sclerosis Causes

The central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord. They process information from our environment and control voluntary muscle movements to allow the body to do certain things.

  • When you touch something hot, for example, signals are sent from sensory nerve endings in your hand up long nerves in your arm, eventually reaching the spinal cord.

  • From there, the signal is transferred up your spinal cord to your brain, where the information is processed. Your brain then sends a signal back down the spinal cord to the nerves in your arm.

  • These nerves cause the muscles in your arm to contract, pulling your hand away from the heat.

This neural system works efficiently, unless there is a disease process affecting the pathways in the spinal cord and brain. Multiple sclerosis is one of the diseases that can affect these pathways.

  • Signals are transmitted within the central nervous system along pathways.

  • These pathways are made up of long fibers called nerves.

  • Nerves are capable of transmitting information from the environment to the brain.

  • Everything you see, touch, taste, smell, or feel is transmitted along nerves to your brain.

  • Nerves also carry information responsible for our alertness, behavior, ability to understand and think rationally, capacity to communicate with others, and feeling and interpreting emotions.
  • To help transmit all this information in a timely manner, the nerves are covered by a fatty substance called myelin. Myelin insulates the nerves and allows them to transmit information to and from the brain in a fraction of a second.

  • If the myelin is disrupted in any way, the transmitted information is not only delayed, but it may also be misinterpreted by the brain.

Multiple sclerosis results in destruction of the myelin surrounding the nerves of the CNS. The destruction is thought to be caused by the body's immune system attacking the myelin sheath.

  • This autoimmune destruction of the myelin sheath leads to areas of demyelination (also known as plaques) in the brain and spinal cord.

  • These plaques disrupt the transmission of information in the CNS and lead to the symptoms seen in multiple sclerosis.
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Viewer Comments & Reviews

Multiple Sclerosis - Symptoms at Onset of Disease

The eMedicineHealth physician editors ask:

The symptoms of multiple sclerosis can vary greatly from patient to patient. What were your symptoms at the onset of your disease?

View 18 Comments | Submit Your Comment

Multiple Sclerosis - Effective Treatment

The eMedicineHealth physician editors ask:

What treatment has been effective for your multiple sclerosis?

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Multiple Sclerosis

Myelin and the Central Nervous System »

What is the central nervous system?

The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system made up of the brain and spinal cord.


The central nervous system

  • The brain controls most bodily functions, such as voluntary movements, perception of sensations, memory, awareness, and thoughts.  

    • The cerebrum controls voluntary actions, speech, thought, and memory. The cortex, also called gray matter, is the outer part of the cerebrum and is made of neurons (nerve cells). Most of the brain's information processing is done in the cortex. 
    • The brain is divided into 2 halves: the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. These hemispheres lie on a central structure called the thalamus, which relays information between the peripheral input from the senses and the brain. Other central structures include the hypothalamus, which reg...

Read the Myelin and the Central Nervous System article »


Read What Your Physician is Reading on Medscape

Multiple Sclerosis »

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS).

Read More on Medscape Reference »

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