{"id":319252,"date":"2025-08-05T07:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319252\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T07:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T07:38:13","slug":"researchers-pinpoint-key-warning-signs-of-ms-that-are-routinely-ignored-would-you-recognise-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319252\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers pinpoint key warning signs of MS that are routinely ignored&#8230; would YOU recognise them?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A new study has revealed fatigue, anxiety and pain are little known signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) that can strike 15 years before more well-known symptoms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Typical symptoms of the autoimmune condition include difficulties walking, vision problem, numbness and muscle cramps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The latest analysis looked at the health records of 12,000 people, tracking physician visits in the 25 years leading up to the onset of MS symptoms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It was the first study to examine healthcare usage this far back into a patient&#8217;s clinical history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They found a steady increase in the number of visits to a GP as early as 15 years before neurological symptoms set in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">This included an increase in visits to physicians for symptoms like fatigue, pain, dizziness, anxiety and <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/depression\/index.html\" id=\"mol-43f25710-713b-11f0-ad29-8f54c201a06f\" rel=\"noopener\">depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The visits to psychiatrists for mental health problems specifically increased 12 years before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But the researchers cautioned that not everyone who has these symptoms will go on to get the debilitating condition.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-d2554a062ef6b8f5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/100908817-14968941-image-a-2_1754316624478.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"A new study has revealed anxiety can be a sign of MS can appear more than a decade before\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">A new study has revealed anxiety can be a sign of MS can appear more than a decade before<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They also found visits to neurologists and ophthalmologists\u2014also known as eye doctors\u2014for blurry vision or eye pain increased eight to nine years before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Then they saw an increase in visits to emergency and radiology departments three to five years before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">And finally, they observed an increase in visits to specialist physicians like neurologists a year before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">These patterns show signs &#8216;something is happening beneath the surface&#8217; before it declares itself as MS, said\u00a0Dr. Marta Ruiz-Alguer\u00f3, a postdoctoral fellow at UBC, the study&#8217;s first author.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The earliest signs they observed &#8216;can be easily mistaken for other conditions&#8217;, warned Dr Helen Tremlett, professor of neurology at UBC&#8217;s faculty.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They believe their findings &#8216;dramatically shift the timeline for when these early warning signs are thought to begin&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">And they potentially open the door to opportunities for earlier detection and intervention, added Dr Tremlett.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Previously other <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-12827579\/Neurologists-discover-warning-signs-MS-strike-five-years-patients-diagnosed-theyre-not-tell-tale-symptoms.html\" rel=\"noopener\">researchers <\/a>had found symptoms that appear five years before, such as constipation, urinary tract infections, and sexual problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-be8dc3c6e21f885b\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/5300620-14968941-The_doctor_s_warning_follows_soaring_rates_an_estimated_150_000_-a-1_1754316313505..jpeg\" height=\"450\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The latest study follows soaring rates\u00bfan estimated 150,000 people with MS in the UK , and nearly 7,100 more people being diagnosed each year\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The latest study follows soaring rates\u2014an estimated 150,000 people with MS in the UK , and nearly 7,100 more people being diagnosed each year<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">MS is a life-changing, incurable condition affecting the brain and spinal cord that causes debilitating muscle spasms, among other symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">While MS does not directly kill, at advanced stages, it can cause weakness in the chest muscles, leading to difficulty breathing and swallowing\u2014which can have life-threatening complications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Those in the late stage of the illness are also extremely vulnerable to potentially deadly infections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Some studies show that MS patients are up to 75 per cent more likely to die young than those without the disease.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Most people find out they have MS in their thirties and forties, but the first signs can start years earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The latest study comes amid a concerning rise in cases, with around 150,000 people living with MS in the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">This is up from around 130,000 in 2019, according to recent research by the MS Society.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">While experts don&#8217;t know the reason cases are on the rise, possible factors are infections, a lack of vitamin D, smoking, solvents, obesity, and stress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It is important to spot the early signs of the condition, as while there is no cure for MS, treatments can slow the progression of the disease.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The type of treatment you will need depends on the type of the disease patients have: relapsing remitting, secondary progressive, and primary progressive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Relapse and remitting MS involves flare-ups of symptoms where they get worse (relapse) and get better (remission).<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Over time it often develops into secondary progressive MS, when symptoms are there all the time, and get slowly worse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In the less common case of primary progressive MS, symptoms slowly getting worse over time without periods of them going away or getting better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Treatments may include several types of medication such as steroids, disease-modifying therapies, muscle relaxants, and those to treat pain and other symptoms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Other types of support include advice on fatigue, physiotherapy, mobility equipment, talking therapies, and cognitive rehabilitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new study has revealed fatigue, anxiety and pain are little known signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[92,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-319252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114975021741728242","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}