Symptom 2: Numbness or Weakness
Numbness or weakness in tumefactive MS can be both frustrating and frightening. Patients may experience a lack of sensation, a feeling akin to wearing a glove or a sock, or a sense of heaviness in one or more limbs. These symptoms can fluctuate and may worsen during a flare-up of the disease.
As an early sign of tumefactive MS, numbness or weakness often begins in a subtle manner. It might start as a faint lack of sensitivity or mild weakness that gradually intensifies over time. At times, these symptoms might seem to improve, only to reappear later, creating a pattern of relapses and remissions typical of MS.
Numbness or weakness results from the loss of myelin, the protective sheath around nerves, due to the overactive immune response in MS. This demyelination disrupts the normal flow of electrical impulses along the nerves, leading to the characteristic symptoms of MS. In the case of tumefactive MS, large lesions may cause more pronounced numbness or weakness.(2)
