7 Puzzling Symptoms That Could Point To An MS Diagnosis
Muscle spasms, difficulty swallowing, and slurred speech are all hallmark signs that can tip you off to a multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis. But there’s actually a longer, more obscure list of unusual symptoms that also go hand-in-hand with the autoimmune disease.
Suspecting that you or a loved one has MS can be overwhelming, especially because the disabling condition has no known cure. But it’s important to know and be aware of all the signs and symptoms that may accompany the disease. While no single test can identify an MS diagnosis, tracking the changes in your body is one of the best ways to catch early symptoms — and when it comes to treating MS, early interventions are proven to support better outcomes.
To help you become your own health advocate, here are seven puzzling symptoms that could point to an MS diagnosis.
1. Hearing Problems
While it’s rare, hearing problems can actually be one of the first symptoms to tip you off to an MS diagnosis. One study found that seven out of 11 people with MS who experienced hearing loss over the previous five years reported that auditory issues were the symptoms that led to their MS diagnosis.
The focal inflammatory component of MS is characterized by destruction of the brainstem, which includes the auditory system. Damage to the auditory system is what allows tinnitus (a ringing sensation in your ears) or sudden hearing loss to occur.
2. A Tight, Bear-Hug Sensation
Some individuals living with MS may experience an “MS hug,” or a tight, squeezing feeling around the stomach or torso. While a bear hug might sound nice, this unpredictable sensation is usually unpleasant. Located in your intercostal muscles, or the muscles between your ribs, these spasms are triggered by a lesion on your spinal cord. Also called “MS girdling,” you may feel a band of tingling or burning in the same area, or a sharper, stabbing pain instead. In fact, MS hugs have even been confused for cardiac events.
While an MS hug may feel different for everyone, it’s important to note that this tight, squeezing sensation can also be associated with other inflammatory conditions. So while it may point to an MS diagnosis, it’s important to talk to your doctor if you experience symptoms associated with a tight squeeze around your midline.
3. Spontaneous Laughing Or Crying Fits
One of the more peculiar symptoms of MS includes a phenomenon called the “pseudobulbar affect.” This involves sudden, frequent, and uncontrollable episodes of laughing or crying, which are disproportionate to the individual’s actual emotions. They may even seem insensitive at times. The pseudobulbar affect occurs due to damage or lesions that disrupt the communication between the cerebral cortex and the cerebellum, affecting an individual’s ability to control their emotions.
4. An Uncontrollable Itch
“Dysesthetic itching” is a term for an insatiable itch that just won’t go away. Like other symptoms associated with the disease, the itching may occur spontaneously and in waves, and it can last just a few minutes or much longer. Caused by myelin damage in the central nervous system (most likely in your spinal cord) that affects your sensory pathways, this itch is not accompanied by a rash and won’t respond to topical medication. If you experience uncontrollable itchiness, talk to your doctor.
5. A Burning Sensation In Your Feet
The same miscommunication between your sensory pathways that causes uncontrollable itching can also cause a burning sensation in your feet. Known clinically as erythromelalgia, this condition is the result of peripheral neuropathy — another result of demyelination activity and MS lesions that causes mixed signals in the brain to result in chronic, unpleasant sensations. Erythromelalgia is most common in the feet but can also affect the hands and is characterized by intermittent episodes of intense, burning pain, severe redness, and increased skin temperature in your extremities.
6. Shock-like Facial Pain
Trigeminal neuralgia is another rare MS symptoms that is very much worth noting. Due to nerve damage of the trigeminal nerve (or the nerve responsible for sensation in your face and actions like chewing), it causes a severe, shock-like stabbing or burning facial pain that can last from just a few seconds up to a few minutes per episode. It usually occurs on one side of the face and may be accompanied by a ‘warning’ achiness or numbness before it occurs. Fortunately, there are medications that can help reduce these symptoms, so talk to your doctor if you experience burning facial pain.
7. Optical Illusions
Unfortunately, many people with MS experience visual problems, including hazy or blurry vision, caused by damage to the optic nerve (known as optic neuritis). However, there’s another, more rare optical trick MS can play called the Pulfrich phenomenon. Also triggered by optic nerve damage, the Pulfrich effect is a disorder of perception of movement in depth — or a 3D illusion caused by a vision impairment. For example, the trajectory of a baseball thrown to you may appear to veer to one side or the other even though it’s thrown in a straight line, or a car may seem to swerve towards you even though it does not leave the road. A special filter in front of one eye may help balance your vision, but it’s best to talk to your doctor if you start experiencing any of the above symptoms.
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