Multiple sclerosis symptom management

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of nontraumatic disability in young adults. The increasing emphasis on early treatment with disease-modifying therapies has the goal of preventing long-term disability. However, current disease treatments are only partially effective, and most patients experience a variety of neurologic symptoms at various times during their disease course. Because these symptoms often have a profound impact on social, occupational and physical performance, effective symptom management is an important component of therapy to maintain quality of life. Effective symptom management often requires a multidisciplinary team approach. This review outlines general principles of the management of MS symptoms.

Keywords::

• multidisciplinary care
• multiple sclerosis
• quality of life
• symptoms

Financial disclosure

AR Boissy is supported by the Sylvia Lawry Physician Fellowship Award FP-1748-A-1 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The authors report no conflicts of interest related to the content of this paper.