Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a serious medical condition which impacts people’s spinal cord and brain. Most of the symptoms associated with this condition relate to damage to the central nervous system. However, multiple sclerosis also arises from an underlying issue with the immune system.

The following symptoms often serve as an early warning that someone might suffer from multiple sclerosis:

1. Vision problems
Vision is heavily tied into the nervous system as a whole. As such it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that vision is heavily impacted by multiple sclerosis. People often suffer from slightly blurred vision during the early stages of multiple sclerosis. This can eventually lead to double vision or even true blindness.

2. Tingling and numbness
Early damage to the central nervous system will often manifest in subtle ways. Tingling sensations are a common symptom of minor nerve damage. The tingling sensations often evolve into numbness as the damage escalates. The defining feature of tingling and numbness related to multiple sclerosis is the lack of a readily apparent cause. Both of these symptoms are fairly common in people’s day to day lives. As such they typically forget about the symptoms soon after they go away for a while. However, the defining element with multiple sclerosis is that the tingling and numbness won’t have an obvious cause. When the symptoms seemingly arise out of nowhere it might be due to multiple sclerosis.

3. Pains and spasms
Pain and spasms are among the most overt warning signs of multiple sclerosis. This is often the point where people begin to use medical intervention to regain a sense of normalcy. Some of these MS treatment options include Avonex, Mayzent and Zeposia. New medications or combinations of these options are also often used for relapse MS treatment.

4. Weakness or fatigue
Weakness and fatigue are reported by about 80% of people who are diagnosed with early stage multiple sclerosis. However, this symptom is often missed due to the fact that it’s a common feeling associated with many common conditions. The biggest differentiating factor with multiple sclerosis is the duration of the weakness and fatigue. With multiple sclerosis these symptoms appear suddenly and last for weeks.

5. Balance problems or dizziness
Damage to one’s central nervous system is often associated with vertigo or dizziness. People with early stage multiple sclerosis often report that it feels as if the world were spinning at times. This feeling of dizziness or vertigo is usually especially apparent when one stands up from a sitting position.

6. Bladder issues
Bladder issues occur with roughly the same frequency as weakness and fatigue during early stages of multiple sclerosis. People usually find that they need to urinate more often than they normally would. On top of this they often have far more difficulty holding it in if they’re not able to make it to a proper area to relieve themselves. Bowel control issues can also develop during the course of multiple sclerosis. However, bowel issues are far less common than urinary problems.

7. Cognitive problems
Around 50% of people with multiple sclerosis will develop cognitive issues over time. As with any symptom these problems may be the very first to manifest. In those cases one will typically experience issues with memory, attention span or language. Some normally well organized people will also find themselves becoming more sloppy as the condition progresses.