Hi everyone hope this helps explain MS a bit better and what most of us suffer lots if not daily. Onwards and upwards MS and b12 deficiency symptoms, and explanations to help with BRAIN -COGNITIVE ISSUES Memory loss. Loss of concentration. Difficulty of keeping track of conversations, processing information. Problem solving. Slowness in process of information. Shortened attention span. Getting stuck on words. Difficulty understanding and using language. Difficulty recognising objects, assemble things together and judge distances. Difficulty in planning, carrying out, monitoring our own activities. Problems with understanding visual information, such as reading maps. Problems with reasoning and solving problems. Pseudobulbar effect... ( pathological laughing and crying) sudden uncontrollable episode of laughing or crying at inappropriate times.. caused by liesons in the part of the brain that controls emotions .. Sensory changes - changes in sensation such as numbness and tingling, might mean the brain is not receiving the accurate information it needs to balance your body properly. Processing — the way your brain processes balance information is complex, so the effects the MS can have on this processing can also be complex, MS nerve damage in the cerrabellum or brain stem can also cause problems with vertigo sometimes accompanied with nausea. Ms can cause a wide range of symptoms that can have an effect on balance, including difficulties with co-ordination, tremor and muscle weakness, stiffness or spasms. These symptoms may mean that your muscle aren’t able to respond properly to the instruction being sent to them by the brain. A weak or stiff muscle might not move to the desired position, or may get there too slowly, you may find it difficult to balance or even stand properly. ——————— EYES, EARS, THROAT Optic neuritis ... inflammation and damage to the optic nerve.. can cause blurred vision. pain in eyeball usually on movement. Orbital pain Vision loss in one eye. Flashing lights. Lose of colour vision. DIPLOPIA - double vision. NYSTAGMUS. Involuntary eye movement. Drooping of eyelids. Myoclonus... sudden involuntary twitching or quivering of muscle or group of muscles in the eye. Internuclear ophthalmoplegia (INO) is damage to the nerve fibres that co-ordinate both eyes in looking from side to side (horizontal movement), INO is found in about 23% of people with MS, vertical eye movement is not affected.. Superior oblique myokymia —— a rare condition of the eye, characterised by episodes of sudden, rythmic monocular contractions of the superior oblique muscle. Causing oscillopsia and doplopia, particularly when the vision is directed down wards. Tinnitus..ringing in the ears. Or high pitched noise. Changes in your speech. Difficulty swallowing, persistent cough. Difficulty chewing and swallowing food. Food sticking in your throat. Food or drink coming back up. Sluggish improvement of food going down. Coughing and spluttering during and after eating. Taking longer than usual to finish meals. Your mouth making too much saliva, which may cause dribbling. Food and drink going down the wrong way, getting into your lungs causing you too choke. (Aspiration) Cyclic vomiting syndrome ...is a disorder that causes recurrent episode s on nausea, vomiting and tiredness (lethargy) Spasmodic dysponia — difficulty in speaking due to a physical disorder of the mouth, tongue, throat or vocal cords. Hyperacusis... noise sensitivity .. hyperacusis which is caused by liesons in our audio pathways, can cause extreme sensitivity, making you irritable, jumpy, or stressed too any noise. —————————- DEPRESSION Low mood. Mood swings. Clinical depression. Suddenly bursting into tears. Emotional and behavioural changes. Mood swings, bouts of anger or hyper-sensitivity. Emotions include anxiety, fear, stress, anger, frustration, worry, guilt, grief, sadness, loss of interest in daily activities, loss or increase of appetite, insomnia or sleeping too much, agitation or slowing in behaviour. Fatigue (feelings of utter exhaustion ). Feelings of worthlessness, problems with thinking and concentration, feelings of death or suicide. Closing yourself off to the rest of the world. —————————————— FATIGUE Feeling tired. Exhaustion when doing any tasks. Weariness. Sudden loss of energy and not being able to continue an activity. Fatigue can be physical or mental or both. Fatigue can also effective cognitive symptoms. Fatigue can Occur on a daily basis. Fatigue tends to worsen as the day progresses. Fatigue tends to be aggravated by heat and humidity. Fatigue comes on easily and suddenly. Fatigue interrupts your daily activities. Fatigue is a daily lack of energy that no sleep can repair. Fatigue can effect a person from functioning normally and effects there quality of life. —————————————————— PAIN Trigeminal neuralgia - stabbing or burning pain in the face. Occipital neuralgia- a distinct type of headache characterized by piercing, throbbing, or electric shock like chronic pain, in the upper neck, back of head, and behind the ears, usually on one side of head. Lhermitte’s sign — a brief stabbing, electric shock sensation, that runs from the back of the neck down the arms or spine, occurs on movement of the neck in a forward position. Dysèsthia ... unpleasant burning sensation. Chronic pain... burning, aching, pins and needles, Spasticity tightening and aching in joints. Muscle spasms, stiffness, or cramps. Musculoskeletal pain, ie back, shoulder, neck, hips ankle pain. Ms hug.. a feeling of restriction around abdominal /rib area. Altered sensations in your skin such as itching, numbness, tingling, burning or aching. Shooting pains in your arms and legs. ——————————————- BOWELS/BLADDER Incontinence. Increased frequency in urination. Urgency to urinate. Hesitancy when starting urination. Nocturnal urination frequent trips to the loo. Urine leakage. Constipation. Loose stools. Diarrhoea. Bowel incontinence. ——————————————- SEXAUL ISSUE Loss of libido. Reduced sensation to sexual organs. Vaginal dryness. Loss of desire or response. Difficulty achieving an erection. —————————————— MUSCLE STIFFNESS AND SPASMS Spasticity. Stiffness and resistant to movement. Painful uncontrollable spasms. Muscle jerking, twitching. Muscle pain. Weakness... caused by problems with nerve signals loss of strength in arms,legs or spine. Causes problems to carry out daily living activities. Subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord. Also know as Lichtheim,s disease, refers to degeneration of the postural and lateral columns of the spinal cord, as a result of vitamin b12 deficiency (most common), vitamin E deficiency, and copper deficiency. It îs usually associated with pernicious anaemia. ——————————————— WALKING/BALANCE/MOBILITY Gait problems. Muscle weakness. Foot drop or toe drag. Ataxia.. effects co-ordination, balance and speech, swallowing, writing, eating, and vision. Sensory ataxia... can’t feel your feet on the floor. Fatigue. Loss of balance. Upper and lower body mobility limitations and weakness. Swelling in hands, legs, ankles. Intention Tremor... comes on when you want to do something, or reach for something, it often gets worse the closer you get to the object. Postural tremor... is when you shake when you are sitting or standing, it comes on while your muscle are trying to hold part of your body still against the forces of gravity. Internal tremors.. shaking sensations /vibrations felt within the body. Vertigo. Clumsiness. Difficulty with posture and movement. Paresthesia.. burning or prickling sensation, tingling, numbness, skin crawling or itching, can be felt in hands, feet, legs, or all over body. Peripheral Neuropathy refers to problems with the peripheral nerves, these nerves send messages from the central nervous system, the brain and the spinal cord to the rest of the body...it can lead to tingling, prickling, numbness and muscles weakness in various parts of the body. ————————— Ataxia.. loss of coordination. Akinesia... freezing of movements. Dysesthesia.. painfiful burning or hot feet. Dysphagia —difficulty chewing or swallowing. Dyspahsia ... difficulty in finding the right words and sentences. Dysarthria —- difficulty speaking.. Dysarthria ... slurring of speech. Internal vibrations... are like tremors that happen inside your body.. you can’t see them but you can fell them.. they produce a quivering sensation inside your arms legs and chest or abdomen. Lymphedema..accumulation of lymphatic fluid, swelling in hands feet and ankles. Formication is a sensation of small insects crawling on or under your skin, this is one specific form of a set of sensations now as parethesias. Paroxysmal symptoms.. symptoms that come on very suddenly, last only a few seconds or minutes then disappear. They may occur many times a day. Tinnitus —— ringing in the ears, and hearing problems. Pseudo relapse.. Rise in body temperature..... your balance may also be effected if your body temperature rises, this is sometimes know as pseudo relapse, because it mimics the symptoms of a relapse. These pseudo relapses can be treating by causing whatever caused your raised temperature, such as an infection. Temperature sensitivity .. heat or cold can make yous MS symptoms feel worse. Extremes of heat and cold may effect the speed of which nerve impulses travel , especially if there is demylation. Uhthoffs phenomenon —— heat intolerance can cause flushing of the face or body...usually resulting in an episode of fatigue. Dysesthesia ... MS hug... kñown as banding or girdling.. feels like a tight uncontrolled band around chest/ribs.. pain that can be moderate to severe.. sometimes feels like your heart is being crushed. LDN low dose naltrexone.. works by encouraging the body to produce endorphins which alter the action of the immune system... helps to improve fatigue.. Spasticity .... refers to feelings is stiff ness and a wide range of involantry muscle spasms. ....flexor spasticity the muscle are so tight that the limbs are bent and difficult to straighten. Extensor spasticity ...the muscles are so tight that the limbs remains straight and are difficult to bend MS is 💩💩💩