The disease often begins around age 30, especially in women.
4,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in France. “Multiple sclerosis can affect the entire central nervous system, that is to say the brain and spinal cord. Various areas are the target of inflammatory attacks called “flares” “ explains Professor Jean Pelletier, President of the medical-scientific committee of the foundation ARSEP. It is during these flare-ups that the symptoms appear. “They settle in a few hours or a few days” And “In general, it evolves very quickly.” But this does not mean that the disease is immediately diagnosed. “Sometimes certain outbreaks will go away on their own, without treatment. The symptoms appear then disappear and it is a posteriori that we will consider that there were prior outbreaks at the time of diagnosis, this happens in the vast majority of cases explains our interlocutor. It is the MRI that confirms the diagnosis of MS. According to our interlocutor, there may be “several months or even several years late” diagnostic.
Knowing the symptoms of multiple sclerosis can then promote earlier diagnosis and improve treatment. Three are particularly characteristic:
- visual disturbances: vision declines in one eye, a feeling of visual blurring may occur
- sensitivity disorders: sensations of tingling, insensitivity in one arm, one leg or both arms or both legs
- a motor skills deficit: difficulty using the hand, walking on the leg, the limbs are stiff, there is a feeling of instability.
“Patients say they are tired without having done anything, everything weighs on them”
The progression of multiple sclerosis is essentially characterized by problems with balance and walking. “Visual disturbances may also appear with a sensation of double vision, disturbances in the control of the urinary sphincters with a feeling of urgency to go pee” replies the specialist. Urinary disorders are “invisible symptoms of multiple sclerosis that bother patients a lot” raises our interlocutor. There are others like cognitive difficulties, “young subjects are hampered by difficulties in concentration, attention and rapid functioning, they have difficulty doing several things at the same time” argues the specialist. Without forgetting the fatigue, “a symptom that is not visible but extremely common. Patients say they are tired without having done anything, everything weighs on them”.
In the majority of cases, MS has a “relapsing-remitting” form: “It progresses in flare-ups, that is to say that there are new lesions and new symptoms. We then put in place basic treatments (immunomodulators or immunosuppressants), from the diagnosis to block the inflammation. We thus prevents the appearance of new inflammatory lesions, flare-ups and the after-effects of these flare-ups.” In a rarer percentage, MS has a “primary progressive” form: “The disease progresses gradually, that is to say that there are no flare-ups but symptoms which gradually worsen, particularly walking disorders. Management is more complicated because the treatments which “block inflammation have not shown the same effectiveness in slowing the progression of the disease. We then use treatments to improve the symptoms.”