This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

I'm new here, and, to add to my other post in the "introduction" forum, I thought I'd simplify my post by asking one specific question to you all --

What was your first symptom of MS?

hey there, first of all welcome....I am quite new myself I hope you find the knowledge in this forum helpful....I sure have!!

My first symptom was a bout of optic neuritis, followed approximately one year later by numbness and tingling in my left leg and what they call an "ms hug" numbness/discomfort/pain in my torso....kinda felt like wearing a really tight corset for a few weeks lol. This lead to my dx last year in June.

Welcome... I will chime in. My first symptom was paralysis on the left side of my face, andslurred speech.

Difficult to know for sure....but the one that really got my attention was an out of the blue vertigo attack!

Also suffered severe migraines and looking back there were times of overwhelming fatigue.....of course both of these were attributed to stressful life

Fatigue, loss of sensation (milder than total numbness) vision issues, dizziness/vertigo.

1991: Numbness in my right shoulder that went down my arm to my thumb and forefinger. This cleared up after about a month.

Symptom free (and undiagnosed) for 8 years.

1999: Numbness and burning sensations in my right foot and leg closely followed by an episode of optic neuritis in my left eye. These combined symptoms led to my diagnosis. The burning in my foot has never left though sometimes it's not as bad as at other times. Both eyes are now working reasonably well.

NHE

Numbness on left wrist and hand, which went away after 2 weeks. A few months later, I started running, and the bottoms of my feet went numb. This was followed over the next few months by a lot of sensory symptoms (numbness, tingling, burning pain). Diagnosis quickly followed.

It's impossible to know for sure, but the first sign may have been 2 years earlier, when I experienced several days of severe vertigo. The doctor at the time thought it was benign positional vertigo, possibly caused by a virus. This went away on its own (Antivert helped in the meantime), but I would occasionally experience mild vertigo symptoms (though never as severe as the first time).

I am new as well, as for first sympton I am really not sure which one it was, I work for social workers so I type alot, I found or should I say one of my team members noticed I was typing numbers wrong, missing a number, On the other note I lost speach for a full month and when I went to the hospital they told me it was stresss related.
How I was diagnosed... I left work half way through the day went to the doctor told him I didnt feel right, he told me to get some rest probably stress, I woke up next morning totally paralized on my left side, I had a very rough beginning I had a major attack and then it was diagnosed. Unfortunately for me I had another major attack while in the hospital a month later and had to start rehab all over again, walking , swallowing, using my left hand etc. I was 2 full months in the hospital
The tingling I have had ever since, it is damage to my nerves and its I believe nerve repairing, it hurts some awfull and the tightness is spascisity I believe, what you havent mentioned is the tighness and detached feeling of the area.I would like to tell you this can be dealt with, talk to your doctor.
cheers,
Amber

As I recall now, I think my first symptom began once I noticed slight change in my writing and holding style of pen especially after long writing sessions. This happened about thirteen years back.
I had my second and a really bad relapse in Dec 2008 once I noticed my right side numbness in the morning with severe itching on my right arm. Whatsoever happened in between the two episodes, they were so mild that I never took them seriously. Best of health to all. Please smile always

Very difficult to say because I have had vertigo on and off for years, but it was always attributed to chronic ear problems.

The first symptom that I found to be 'odd' and got me to see a physician was the fact that I could not feel the razor against my legs when I was shaving. I knew that I was shaving them because I was seeing it, but didn't feel anything. During the same period of time I had numbness in my fingertips, which I kept telling myself was due to a pinched nerve in my neck (chronic back/neck issues too).

This was a great idea for a thread!

mild optic neuritis.

Numbness in the thumb of my left hand. At first I thought I was sleeping on the arm and I could usually shake off the numbness but it gradually became more persistant and spread to the fingers on that hand. Two years later I had a nasty case of L'Hermitte sign. The Dx came shortly after that. Since then the problems have been mainly in the left leg; drop foot and weakness, plus poor balance.

hello cardiactec,
welcome. lots of info and support here.
i've been asked this question many times. now 12 yrs after diagnosis, i can finally come up with some answers:
double vision, fatigue, weakness, balance difficulties, lhermitte's sign, reynaud's.
diagnosed when i finally went to doctor after a fall. fall tore ligament in pinky and destroyed it. that sucked because i was a typesetter.

For my wife it was numbness and tingling in the feet.

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