symptoms

Stress urinary incontinence affects predominantly young adult mothers with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), particularly those with pelvic organ prolapse, according to a recent study. Exercises that strengthen the pelvic floor muscles are suggested to reduce the risk of incontinence. The study, “Stress Urinary Incontinence in Women With Multiple Sclerosis,”…

It’s definitely autumn here in the Pacific Northwest. Misty, gray mornings give way to breezy sunshine in the afternoon … for a couple of hours anyway, until the evening rain arrives. This is the time of year that the weather forecasters compete to see who can come up with…

ECTRIMS 2016 (European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS) produced lots of stories with exciting headlines about advances in MS research — and hopefully you read many of them here at MS News Today. As I went through the various presentation titles, there were a couple that jumped…

Long-term observations together with mathematical modeling present a way of predicting the likely disability trajectory of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The approach was outlined in a presentation, titled “Long-term disability trajectories in primary progressive MS patients – a latent class growth analysis,” given at the 32nd Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held in London…

Researchers found that blocking a protein, known as integrin alpha 8, may work to prevent inflammation in the central nervous system of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The results were revealed in an oral presentation, “Integrin alpha8 is a novel mediator of T lymphocyte migration across the CNS barriers,” at the 32nd Congress of the European Committee…

Immune activity in brain membranes may be the key to determining inflammatory profiles in the brain. These profiles, in turn, are linked to levels of brain gray matter damage, and to disability, in both early and later stages of multiple sclerosis (MS). Researchers behind the study, which was presented during the Parallel…

In a recent talk, titled “Income and cognitive impairment among multiple sclerosis patients,” scientists investigated how cognitive impairment impacts the life of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and reported significant differences in income that correlated with levels of MS-cognitive deficit. These findings were recently presented at the 32nd Congress of the European Committee for…

Early detection is very important for any disease diagnosis. With Multiple Sclerosis, it gives you the opportunity to start a treatment plan early that may help with slowing the progression of the disease. Symptoms of MS vary widely from person to person and can closely mimic other disease symptoms. Lesions don’t always…

MicroRNAs present in the blood show promise as potential biomarkers of multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study suggests. The study, titled “Comprehensive Evaluation Of Serum MicroRNAs As Biomarkers In Multiple Sclerosis,” was published by Keren Regev, MD, and colleagues in the journal Neurology. Human DNA contains…

Patients with a number of common conditions — some neurological and some autoimmune, but others not — are being mistakenly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) because of difficulties in correctly determining this disease and, possibly, pressure to begin treatment early in the disease’s course, according to a recent study published in the…

When I first heard about MS “foot drop,” I assumed that the manifestation of this symptom would be a sudden and obvious inability to walk properly.  I knew many people with MS who used canes and walked with significant stiffness or a “dragging” limb. I filed “foot drop” away…

Thinking has become my second job. Never have I had to put so much effort into gathering my thoughts or comprehending the world around me as I do with MS. To say MS has changed my life in so many ways is an understatement! Of all of my MS…

Many people voiced their concerns to me about anyone with MS moving to live in a sunny climate. That worry is understandable. With a disease that includes heat sensitivity, where even a hot shower can make you worse, how can any MS patient move to live in an area where…

To reach tissues infected with foreign agents, neutrophils, the body’s first line of defense, need to travel through vessel walls — and do so by switching on a class of adhesion receptors, called integrins, that bind to other adhesion molecules at the surface of the capillary walls. Now, in a recent paper published…

The other day I received a very troubling direct message from someone on another Multiple Sclerosis website: “I was diagnosed with MS in 2004 but, foolishly, dismissed it. Other than bad spacisity [spasticity] and a few little episodes, I was relatively symptom free. That is until…

In the two years following my diagnosis, I had many bouts of chest pain, breathing difficulties, and sharp stomach pains. I worried that some other terrible illness was right around the corner. Four EKGs, three ultrasounds, two pulmonary function tests, and one colonoscopy later I had a surprisingly good bill…

There can be absolutely no excuse for anyone experiencing the first signs and symptoms of neurological conditions like MS having to wait a long time to see an appropriate specialist, such as a neurologist. Delays in seeing specialists is a complaint often heard from patients in various countries, and it…

Researchers at Michigan State University suggest that a blood test can distinguish patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) from people with other neurological conditions, according to a recent study published in EBioMedicine. Results from the study, “An In Vitro Diagnostic for Multiple Sclerosis Based on C-peptide Binding to Erythrocytes,”…

Researchers from Colorado State University propose a new model of fatigue in multiple sclerosis (MS), designed to overcome the lack of a unified definition of fatigue that can be objectively tested using experimental approaches. With this model, the authors behind the article, “Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis: Misconceptions…

Feeling tired?  No surprise there.  Fatigue is as much a part of living with Multiple Sclerosis as sand is a part of the beach where I live. It’s interesting, then, that neurologists seem to have no good system for measuring levels of MS fatigue or any treatments that are…

Editor’s Note: MS Patient Specialist and Columnist Judy Lynn writes from her unique and engaging perspective as an MS patient reflecting on the challenges that the disease presents and how to cope with them in her daily life. In her debut article for her new Column “You’ve Got Some Nerves,”…

Waking up in the morning and facing the world brings a sense of wonder. Not in the sense of awe, just in wondering how MS will affect me today. Is it a good day or a bad day? What will it bring? Like most people,…

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) might be an option to treat spasticity, one of the more common symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a literature review conducted by researchers from Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, Toledo and Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos de Toledo, in Spain.

  Do you remember when you applied for a handicapped license plate? I put it off for quite a while after I was diagnosed. After all, I could walk several city blocks fairly easily. I could still play a little tennis. Why did I need to park in a…

Gut bacteria and health have been topics of considerable scientific speculation in recent years, and the field of multiple sclerosis (MS) research is no exception. But what do we really know about MS and our intestinal inhabitants? A review, “Emerging Concepts on the Gut Microbiome and Multiple Sclerosis,” published in…

Do you have any strong feelings about worms? No, not earthworms you find in the garden, or even roundworms or tapeworms that can sometimes be found in animals and humans. What I am talking about is purposely being infected with parasitic worms. OK, it may not be as gross as…

A link indeed appears to exist between multiple sclerosis (MS) and unusual changes in the bacterial composition of the gut, according to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). In their study, “Alterations of the human gut microbiome in multiple sclerosis,” published in the journal Nature Communications,…

Inflammation in a brain region called the hippocampus might explain why patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) suffer from depression far more often than patients with other chronic brain diseases. The findings, described in the report “Hippocampal Neuroinflammation, Functional Connectivity, and Depressive Symptoms in Multiple Sclerosis,” published in the…

Fecal samples from a group of people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) showed evidence of a different gut microbiota than that found in healthy controls, and may be a non-genetic reason for the altered immune system responses seen in MS patients. The study, “Multiple sclerosis patients have…

Disabling tremors can affect as many as half of all people with multiple sclerosis (MS), but they are inadequately treated because of limited therapeutic options and are not sufficiently being studied, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported. Their report, “Symptomatic Management of Multiple Sclerosis-Associated Tremor Among…