A New Jersey woman says her early signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) were initially written off by doctors — and hopes her story can help others catch the devastating disease sooner.
Angelina Cubero, 27, of Jersey City, was diagnosed with the disease three years ago at age 24 — but it’s been a long road. Like many MS patients, it took months of uncertainty, trips to emergency rooms, and switching doctors before she was shut down.
Her symptoms of brain fog, frequent migraines, and constant leg pain and numbness were written off as anxiety for many years. Now she wants others who may be affected to get checked for MS.
Angelina Cubero (pictured), 27, was diagnosed with MS at age 24 after an MRI found lesions and other damage to her brain and spine
Ms Cubero said she had previously told doctors she suffered from brain fog, numb and tingling legs and migraines, but her symptoms had been written off by doctors
In the autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakenly attacks the protective layer of the brain and spine, slowly shutting down the body’s communication systems.
“I’d go to the doctor, I’d go to the ER, I’d go to the emergency room, I’d go to my GP, I’d go to a specialist, another specialist, and I wasn’t really getting any answers,” Ms. Cubero to Good Morning America.
“They’d say, ‘You look great.’ You don’t look sick. All your tests seemed normal to me.’ … The only reason they told me was fear.’
Finally, an MRI scan she received in 2020 discovered multiple lesions and plaque in her brain, suggesting she suffered from MS.
She said she had never heard of the disease until she found out she was suffering from it.
“I had to do my own research to find out what MS is, and that was scary,” she said.
An estimated 1 million Americans suffer from MS, according to the National MS Society. The disease is also responsible for about 20,000 annual deaths in the US.
It develops when the immune system begins to attack the body’s myelin — a protective covering around important parts of the central nervous system, such as the brain and spine.
Over time, the nervous system begins to break down. This causes a person to slowly lose motor function throughout their body.
Many patients become partially or completely paralyzed after battling the disease for years.
Other symptoms included seizures, vision problems including blindness, mental health problems and cognitive decline.
While it may seem young, symptoms usually begin between a person’s 20s and 40s. It can take some time for doctors to diagnose it.
While Ms. Cubero’s symptoms were initially written off by doctors, they can all serve as early signs that a person will soon suffer from the devastating condition.
But each of these symptoms is also caused by a host of other factors, and doctors would caution against assuming the worst for common conditions.
Here are the three warning signs, according to Ms. Cubero:
MS is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body’s built-in defenses against outside invaders begin to attack the myelin, the layer on the brain, spine, and nerves that protects it from damage
Brain fog
Defined by sudden bouts of confusion, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating and a lack of mental acuity, brain fog is a common symptom of MS.
Also referred to as “cog fog” by MS patients, the symptom can cause people to lose hours of their time trying to complete simple tasks.
They may also have trouble remembering simple details about things they just did, such as what they ate for lunch.
It occurs because of damage to myelin, which makes the brain and other parts of the nervous system vulnerable.
Over time, infections, injury, and disease will damage the brain.
As it becomes damaged, lesions – or wounds – will appear in the brain. Detection of this damage on an MRI scan is usually the first signal to a doctor that someone has MS.
Numbness and tingling in the legs
Tingling and other sensations in the legs are among the most well-known early symptoms of MS.
As the myelin that surrounds the body’s nerves slowly begins to wear down, a person’s nerves become damaged.
These nerves are responsible for relaying information from the brain to the rest of the body.
If they are damaged, they may not be able to send the information correctly. This leads to tingling or numbing sensations – which occur when a nerve is irritated or sends extra signals.
While this can happen occasionally in some people, such as after sitting on their leg for a long time, doctors warn that anyone who frequently experiences the sensations should seek medical attention.
migraine
Frequent migraines are a possible symptom of MS. While more than one in ten Americans suffer from headaches, WebMD warns that MS patients are twice as likely to experience it than their peers.
Doctors have not determined why people with MS experience these headaches. Previous studies have been unable to establish a link between migraine and MS.
But some speculate that the disease affects how the body regulates hormones.
When the disease “flares up” — as doctors call it when new symptoms of the disease begin to emerge or old ones worsen — migraines also become more common.