What is the difference??

Hi , this is a fantastic question! I'm going to tackle this by talking using ALS as the motor neuron disease we are comparing. Symptom-wise, particularly early on, there are a lot of similarities between MS and ALS. Both can cause mobility problems, muscle weakness, spasms, slurred speech, etc. Early on, it can be difficult to diagnose one vs the other by looking at symptoms. As time goes on, things change, MS is very unpredictable, someone could have very severe symptoms or very minor, it may progress quickly or barely at all. ALS has a much more rapid and dramatic decline for a person. Enough that it will significantly shorten their life span. Early on, diagnosing can be tricky. Family history is important because ALS tends to be more genetic. One of the key ways of determining MS vs ALS though is by using an MRI. MS causes the immune system to attack an insulation layer that surrounds our nerves, called myelin, this causes signals traveling along those nerves to be disrupted. ALS, on the other hand, attacks those nerves directly. When it comes to an MRI, because the outside myelin layer is what is attacked with MS, that will show up on an MRI, whereas, early on, with ALS, you won't see that damage in an MRI, the scan will look normal (until the later stages of the disease). Both of these diseases require a lot of tests (not only MRIs but blood tests, spinal taps, etc) to diagnoses because a lot of the diagnosis, particularly early on, starts with eliminating various causes. That difference on the MRI is a key way of eliminating MS vs ALS. Eliminating symptoms is another key way of making the determination (MS tends to have more mental symptoms such as trouble multitasking and depression) whereas, early on, ALS tends to affect people only physically.

I hope that helps and I'm happy to help answer any questions you have, I am not an expert on MND, but I will do my best to research and help answer as best as I possibly can.

When I was finally diagnosed after years of various symptoms and problems, including all the usual. But when I was diagnosed, my only question was MS? or ALS? The answer came back MS thank God.

Thanks for the information dev. I am a bit worried that my mobility as gone done hill rapidly .. and symptoms are changing. Some of the symptoms don't seen like ms. What show s up in lumbar puncture if mnd and ms is present I had a lumbar puncture 20yrs ago and it showed up oligcolonol band's. What does that mean

Hi dev. The thing is things have deteriorated quite rapidly. Especially my mobility and my back .so painful. The pain in my feet. Legs, back.i cry with.i can't hardly walk for 30 mins now. It as been really quick. Symptoms are changing and Im getting g new ones all th time
Kind regards