Alert symptoms are rather telling.
SCLERROSE in plates (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It affects almost 120,000 people in France, with a female preponderance (2/3 of patients are women). It is often diagnosed between 25 and 35 years “But can also be diagnosed a little later, after 50 years, and in this case, there are as many men as affected women“, Specifies Professor Céline Louapre (Sorbonne University, AP-HP), neurologist at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital and responsible for the clinical investigation center at the Brain Institute. If we know this name of name, we do not know Often how it manifests itself on a daily basis and even less how it starts.
“”Generally, alert symptoms are rather telling and clear. In 85% of cases, multiple sclerosis appears in its “classic” form (recurrent-remitting “form”) and leads to neurological symptoms which occur by thrusts of a few weeks, interspersed with episodes of more or less long remission. During the thrusts, we may have, depending on the location of the lesions, a motor deficit (muscle weakness in the leg or arm …), a sensitive deficit (loss of sensation, tingling, tingling. ..), balances of balance, difficulties in walking, a double vision or a drop in vision of an eye“, describes the neurologist. Great fatigue can persist outside the thrusts. Unlike a stroke (stroke) which generally occurs very brutally – almost” from one second to the other ” – the symptoms of the Sclerosis in plates set up a little more slowly, in a few days.
In 15% of cases, multiple sclerosis is said to be “progressive” shape: the symptoms appear much more slowly and more insidiously and will rather worsen gradually over months or even years. “”For example, we can have a patient who will see a loss of muscle strength during his jogging, then over the months, muscle weakness will intensify more and more, during walking for example …“Explains our interlocutor. The progressive form is mainly observed in older patients (> 50 years).
“The diagnosis is easy and quick”
Faced with the appearance of symptoms evocative of multiple sclerosis, the best is to talk to his attending physician who will first be the most appropriate interlocutor. The clinical examination will allow you to know a little more and to orient towards other tracks (sciatica, motor problems …). If multiple sclerosis is suspected, the patient will have to pass an MRI or even a lumbar puncture to analyze the constitution of cerebrospinal fluid. “”There is also a blood test in order to eliminate other diseases and prepare for the implementation of treatment“. Once the diagnosis is made, the patient is followed by a neurologist. Other professionals can intervene in care such as a psychologist, a re -educator, a physiotherapist, a occupational therapist … France also has expert centers For MS installed in university hospital centers as well as reference centers for rare inflammatory diseases of the brain and marrow (Mircem).
It’s a disease “whose diagnosis is usually easy and quick” And that doctors know very well. A study to be published has shown great stability in the epidemiology of the disease (the incidence has hardly changed in 10 years) and in the evolution of the disease. Significant therapeutic progress has taken place in the past 20 years, which is rather reassuring.