Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease of unknown origin in which damage occurs to the protective cells, called myelin, that surround the body's nerves. When the electrical impulses can no longer be transmitted along a motor nerve, muscles stop working; when a sensory nerve is involved, sensation is affected. The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America reports that the symptoms of MS vary among individuals, depending on which nerves are affected in their disease process. Physicians must use multiple procedures to rule out other diagnoses that have symptoms that mimic those of MS.
Fatigue
Fatigue is a symptom of conditions such as anemia, leukemia, Lyme disease and congestive heart failure. Patients presenting with symptoms of generalized weakness and fatigue are sometimes diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome until additional testing identifies the damage to the myelin and helps to confirm an MS diagnosis. Because MS symptoms often cycle through periods of exacerbation and remission and because fatigue is such a vague complaint, MS is not diagnosed on the symptom of fatigue alone.
Gait Disorders
When the motor nerves are unable to send information from the brain to the muscles, they cease working correctly and become atrophied. In MS, lower extremity weakness commonly results in an abnormal gait pattern, or an unusual way of walking. Other conditions that can also result in an gait disorders include Parkinson's disease, normal pressure hydrocephaly, stroke and muscular dystrophy.
Sensory Disturbances
Damage to the sensory nerves results in limited and sometimes quite peculiar sensations for the MS patient. In addition to the more typical report of numbness in the limbs, feelings of pins and needles, burning or temperature changes are all possible. Conditions that also have symptoms of sensory disorders are stroke, Raynaud's disease and diabetic neuropathy.
Visual Disorders
If the myelin of the optic nerve becomes affected as a result of MS, the patient may report blurred vision, double vision or a lessening in visual acuity. Other conditions that are strongly linked with visual symptoms are migraine, cataracts, stroke, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. MayoClinic.com reports that with MS, typically only one eye is affected at a time and, as with other symptoms, the visual disturbances often cycle through periods of exacerbation and remission.
