Dizziness is in almost all cases, the first MS symptom experienced. Nevertheless, most people have a hard time making the difference between vertigo and dizziness, as they usually describe what they are feeling in a subjective way – what one experiences and the way he or she expresses himself or herself is entirely different from the way another person does it. There are cases when the dizziness is not even related to MS – which makes the diagnosis much more difficult.

Even if diagnosing multiple sclerosis doesn’t imply dizziness as an only symptom, this is something very common in this disease, and has a rather high rate of recurrence. Dizziness is a result of the demylination due to Multiple Sclerosis, demyelination that affects the brain and spinal cord’s surrounding and protective tissue. The symptom tends to alternate between exacerbations and remissions, and during each episode, the severity of it varies (from mild, to moderate, to severe).

Dizziness, as a symptom, is experienced by only 5% of all patients in the early stages of MS, but according to studies, over 50% of all patients will experience feelings of vertigo and dizziness during the course of the disease.  Studies also indicated about 10% of MS patients also experience hearing loss, which only exacerbates more the feelings of dizziness and vertigo.

For Multiple Sclerosis patients, dizziness is commonly experienced as lightheadedness or feeling faint; vertigo, on the other hand, is a feeling that makes one feel like the ground is rushing up or spinning to meet one. Needless to say, vertigo is much worse, but thankfully, is very rare in MS patients (according to studies under 20% of all multiple sclerosis patients suffer from it); dizziness, on the other hand, is a rather common symptom, but much more easily manageable.

The management of this symptom is done through therapy and medication. Fortunately, there are plenty of choices for the treatment of dizziness in MS, so all sufferers are bound to find a treatment that works best for them.  When it comes to medication, a very commonly prescribed one is Dramamine (Meclizine) a medication that is also used by people who suffer from motion sickness. Another very potent and successful drug for some multiple sclerosis patients proved to be Scopoderm ( hyoscine) that is administered as a patch that’s placed behind the ear. Of course, these medication are used for mild symptoms of dizziness. For multiple sclerosis patients with high levels, a course of corticosteroids is the usual and recommended treatment.

As already said, dizziness management isn’t made only through the use of medication. Today, for multiple sclerosis patients, Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy is the most popular non-drug treatment. In this type of therapy, the patient and therapist work together to learn and retain the way the patient’s brain interprets and processes the information received from the vestibular system, thus reducing brain damage due to MS.  Until now, this type of treatment proved to be very successful, and most patients don’t need medical interventions to overcome their dizziness after it.