But if the problem comes out of nowhere, call for help right away. If you drink too much alcohol, your speech might be slurred for a little while. Long pauses between words or syllables, called scanning speech.Nasal speech, or sounding like you have a cold.“What did you say?” People with MS might hear this phrase a lot - the disease can damage the part of your brain that controls speech. Learn more about symptoms of common vision problems. To rule out these diseases, have a checkup with your eye doctor. A more serious issue, such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, or diabetic retinopathy, can also lead to vision problems like blind spots. Some blurriness is a normal part of aging - you may just need a new pair of glasses. If your sight is slowly getting worse, there’s most likely another issue to blame. Vision problems caused by MS usually come on suddenly. You’re reading a book and suddenly you see two of the same line or the page becomes a gray jumble.

Learn about conditions that look like a stroke. If it happens along with other symptoms, like a drooping face or slurred speech, call 911 right away. Weakness on just one side of the body can be from something mild like a pinched nerve or a serious problem like a stroke. Or you may have too few red blood cells in your body, a condition called anemia. You may be fighting off a cold or the flu. If you feel weak all over, odds are there’s another problem at play. What gives? Sudden weakness, especially in an arm or leg, is an MS symptom. Lifting that 10-pound dumbbell was part of your usual workout routine, but now it feels impossible. Learn more about what causes extreme fatigue. Talk to your doctor if you just can’t seem to feel rested.

You’re tired in the morning, even after a good night’s sleep, and it gets worse as the day goes on.ĭon’t have these signs? To ease your fatigue, make sure you get enough sleep, exercise regularly, eat a balanced diet, and keep your stress in check.

You may not have the energy to do even simple things, like cook dinner or take the dog for a walk. MS fatigue tends to be worse than run-of-the-mill sluggishness. But a number of things can make you feel exhausted, including a sleep disorder, depression, or too little iron in your blood. Learn more about the causes of dizziness.Ībout 80% of people with MS feel very tired, making it one of the most common symptoms. You may need to slowly rise instead of hopping to your feet. It could be a stroke.ĭid a quick wave of lightheadedness hit? That’s often a sign of low blood sugar, dehydration, or a sudden drop in blood pressure you get when you stand up quickly. If the dizziness or stumbling are sudden or new, go to the emergency department at your local hospital to be checked out. Medications, such as those for depression and seizure disorders, can cause similar problems too. If you’re dizzy and nauseous when you’re lying down, or if you stumble to one side, it could be a problem with your inner ear, which controls your balance. Is the room spinning? MS can make you feel lightheaded or off-balance, usually when you’re standing up and moving around. Learn more about causes of numbness and tingling in your limbs.

Sudden numbness on one side of the body may signal a stroke. 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. 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. It usually happens in the face, arms, or legs, and on one side of the body. Numbness or TinglingĪ lack of feeling or a pins-and-needles sensation can be the first sign of the nerve damage from MS. It helps to know what else can explain some of the signs you might be feeling. You can also keep track of your problems: MS symptoms tend to come and go or get worse over time. How can you tell if what you’re feeling is caused by MS or something else? First, keep in mind that most people have the first signs of the disease between the ages of 20 and 40. So it’s easy to mistake another issue for MS, which affects less than 1% of Americans. So you do a quick internet search and come up with an alarming result: Your symptom is one of the signs of multiple sclerosis ( MS), a disease of the brain and spinal cord.īefore you start to worry, know that many signs of the condition are the same as symptoms of other health problems. Maybe you’ve felt exhausted or weak lately.

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