What were the first symptoms that you experienced?

Hello everyone,

MS brings a whole host of symptoms that many patients endure before being diagnosed. Some of the most common symptoms are double vision, bladder issues, pain and spasms...unfortunately, the list goes on.

What symptoms did you first experience? How did you manage them? 

For me it was double vision, which was very disconcerting indeed...

Hello everyone,

I thought I would revive this older discussion because it may be interesting to see how MS is different for everyone!

So, what were the first MS symptoms you experienced? Did they lead to seek out a doctor or did they help determine your diagnosis? How did you handle them?
@Charlie12345‍ @Harps10‍ @Fl33tw00d‍ @Jemgavlaa‍ @EmilieH‍ @Kareema‍ @Claire1974‍ @Cherylmoore‍ @thembrough‍ @Davbod1870‍ @vonnywonkie‍ @Carol50‍ @Granmarshall‍ @Barbershop19‍ @NicLiv‍ @Pbeeton‍ 

Feel free to share you stories and experiences here! 

Take care,
Courtney

@Pleasance I also had issues with my vision and then it was my balance. I would stumble a lot and fall occasionally and my family and I thought it was funny until it kept happening and happening. I thought it was an inner-ear problem and eventually after the whole rounds of scans and tests it was MS.

Hi everyone,

How are you doing? Have you seen this older discussion? 😊

What were your first MS symptoms? Did you know they were signs of MS, or did you realise after your diagnosis? Have they eased or changed over time?

@Impledimple @Narcisse @waggywoo1 @rubyrose69 @Bryan123 @MrsBBumble @02920.teri @Nealson @KarenTravers @Rose1962 @Lee411 @lucy2000t2000 @Drclayyon @Jackline @Lizgee @Lenny62 @Georgewash

Take care,

Courtney

I had loss of light touch sensation from the waist down, but wasn’t diagnosed for another 30 years. I had optic neuritis 2 yrs after it but this was diagnosed at a different hospital and no one joined the dots. It took an episode of double vision in 2016 for me to be told it’s MS

My first symptom was simple partial seizures. You know, the whole waking up in the middle of the night, after having a "deja vous" moment, until my bro caught me throwing up in the morning, went and told mum, she then looked online at the NHS symptom checker, saw that we needed to go to A&E, so bro was sent to school (thankfully at the top of our street), our nearest hospital was a minor injuries one so I got seen quickly. I had a seizure as the nurse was doing my pupil reaction and got sent to the nearest big hospital to get seen by doctors, and a referral to our local neurology hospital. An MRI, A Level exams, and a brief hospital stay later, I was diagnosed August 2014. All that would have been done had my GP not put down my seizures as anxiety.

@cwright17

omg it must have come as a shock to you! Seizures as a first symptom.. must have been hard.

For me it was double vision as well, I guess it's a "stardard" first symptom. Was diagnosed in my 30s.

@flowergirl Nah, not that scary. Just some simple partials, where you don't stop, drop and shake, it just looks like a person that can't speak, looks gormless, and bad deja vous feelings. Maybe vomiting at the end. Then, last year I had a couple of generalised ones, the whole stop, drop and shake. I'm happy I told my partner to call an ambulance if I were to have those, as they're not normal for me. 27 days in hospital, a couple of steroid infusions, 80% of my walking ability back and an MRI later, my neuro had enough evidence to argue for me to get put on ocrevus 😁🙏 I do understand your double vision. My "clinically definite" symptom was vertigo, and then an MRI at a private hospital in Blackburn. I'm still amazed I managed to walk to the nearest train station without getting myself run over 🤣

May I ask what your clinically definite symptom was? Are you still battling double vision?

@cwright17 have you been diagnosed with epilepsy as well? I have never had seizures, so I can't even imagine how scary it may be, especially for your family/friends. Was it ocrevus that stopped your seizures?

it was a coupe of episodes of double vision that made my GP refer me to a neurologist, so I guess it was really my first clinically definite symtom, diplopia, as they call it. I have had more episodes since, but fortunately they have always been short term.