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There's currently no cure for multiple sclerosis (MS), but medicines and other treatments can help control the condition and ease some of the symptoms.
Treatment for MS depends on the stage of the disease and the specific symptoms the person has.
It may include:
You'll be supported by a team of different healthcare professionals working together.
This may include a neurologist (specialist in treating conditions of the nervous system), a physiotherapist, a speech and language therapist, and a number of other professionals.
Your team will also include a specialist MS nurse, who'll usually serve as your main point of contact.
Contact your specialist MS nurse or GP if you think you're having a relapse.
A flare-up of symptoms can sometimes be caused by something other than a relapse, such as an infection, so your nurse or GP needs to check for other possible causes.
Treatment for a relapse usually involves either:
Steroids can help speed up your recovery from a relapse, but they don't prevent further relapses or stop MS getting worse over time.
They're only given for a short period of time to avoid possible steroid side effects, such as osteoporosis (weak bones), weight gain and diabetes, although some people will still experience problems.
Not using steroids more than 3 times a year (if possible) will also help to reduce the risk of side effects.
MS can cause a range of symptoms that can be treated individually.
Many people with MS experience fatigue.
You may be prescribed a medicine called amantadine for fatigue caused by MS, although this may only have a limited effect.
You should also be given general advice on ways to manage fatigue, such as:
Specialist fatigue management courses or therapy, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), can also help some people with MS cope with their fatigue.
Your doctor may also look at whether anything else might be causing your fatigue, such as depression, trouble sleeping or a medical condition such as anaemia. They can then offer treatment, if needed.
MS-related visual problems will often improve on their own, usually within a few weeks, so you may not need any treatment.
If your symptoms are particularly severe, you may be prescribed steroids to help speed up recovery.
If you have problems with involuntary eye movements, medicine such as gabapentin can sometimes help.
Some people with double vision need help from ophthalmologists (eye specialists).
Muscle spasms and stiffness (spasticity) can be improved with physiotherapy.
Techniques like stretching exercises can help if your movement is restricted.
If your muscle spasms are more severe, you may be prescribed a medicine that can relax your muscles.
This will usually be either baclofen or gabapentin, although there are alternative medicines, such as tizanidine, diazepam, clonazepam and dantrolene.
These medicines all have side effects, such as dizziness, weakness, nausea and diarrhoea, so discuss which of these would be best for you with your specialist MS nurse or GP.
If these medicines are not effective, you may be offered a 4-week trial of nabiximols (Sativex). This is a cannabis-based medicine sprayed into the mouth.
Find out more about medical cannabis
If medicines do not help, you may be referred to a specialist service that helps people manage muscle spasms and stiffness, called a spasticity service.
Mobility problems are often the result of muscle spasms and spasticity, but they can also be caused by muscle weakness, or problems with balance or dizziness.
If you have problems with mobility, you might benefit from:
An occupational therapist can carry out an assessment of your home and suggest adaptations that may be of help.
Neuropathic pain is caused by damage to your nerves, and is usually sharp and stabbing.
It can also occur in the form of extreme skin sensitivity or a burning sensation.
This type of pain can be treated using medicines such as duloxetine, gabapentin or carbamazepine, or with a medicine called amitriptyline.
This is an older type of antidepressant, but these days it's mainly used for pain control.
Living with MS can cause stresses and strains to the muscles and joints in your body.
A physiotherapist may be able to help with this pain by suggesting exercise techniques or better seating positions.
If your pain is more severe, you may be prescribed painkillers.
Alternatively, you may have a device that stimulates your nerves called a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) machine.
If you experience problems with thinking and memory, you may be referred to a neuropsychologist and an occupational therapist, who can help assess your problems and suggest ways to manage them.
If you experience emotional outbursts, such as laughing or crying for no apparent reason, you should be assessed by a specialist like a clinical psychologist.
They may suggest treatment with an antidepressant.
People with MS who have depression can also be treated with antidepressants or therapy, such as CBT.
If you often feel anxious or worried, you may be prescribed antidepressants or benzodiazepines, which are a type of tranquilliser that have a calming effect.
Men with MS who find it hard to obtain or maintain an erection (erectile dysfunction) may be prescribed medicine to temporarily increase the blood flow to the penis, such as sildenafil (Viagra). This is provided by the NHS if you have MS.
Relationship counselling or seeing a sex therapist may also help both men and women with MS who are having problems with reduced interest in sex or difficulty reaching orgasm.
Various medicines are available if you have an overactive bladder or need to pee frequently during the night.
If you find it difficult to empty your bladder or you leak pee, advice from a continence nurse or physiotherapist can help.
Handheld external stimulators can also help some people start peeing or empty the bladder.
Occasionally, a catheter can be used to empty the bladder when needed.
In rare cases, people with MS may need a long-term catheter to keep the bladder emptying safely.
You may be referred to a continence adviser or urologist, who can offer specialist treatment and advice, such as botulinim toxin injections, bladder exercises or electrical treatment for your bladder muscles.
Find out more about treating urinary incontinence
It may be possible to treat mild to moderate constipation by changing your diet or taking laxatives.
More severe constipation may need to be treated with suppositories, which are inserted into your bottom, or an enema.
An enema involves having a liquid medicine rinsed through your bottom and large bowel, which softens and flushes out your stools.
Bowel incontinence can sometimes be treated with anti-diarrhoea medicine or by doing pelvic floor exercises to strengthen your rectal muscles.
A speech and language therapist can help you find ways to overcome problems with speech and swallowing.
For example, they can offer advice about foods that are easy to swallow and recommend exercises to strengthen the muscles used in speech and swallowing.
If swallowing problems become very severe, some people need to be fed using a tube, which is fitted into the stomach through the skin.
Although MS can't be cured, there are medicines that can help people have fewer and less severe relapses. These are called disease-modifying therapies.
They are taken either as a pill, an injection or an infusion.
They aim to reduce the amount of damage and scarring to the myelin sheath (a layer surrounding your nerves), which is associated with MS relapses.
These treatments may also help to slow worsening disability in MS, although definitive research into their long-term benefits is limited.
Disease-modifying therapies aren't suitable for everyone with MS. They're only prescribed to those with relapsing remitting MS or some people with primary or secondary progressive MS who have relapses.
People with progressive MS who don't have relapses are very unlikely to benefit from the treatments and could still experience side effects from them.
You can find further information about disease-modifying therapies on these websites:
Much progress has been made in MS treatment thanks to clinical trials, where new treatments and treatment combinations are compared with standard ones.
All clinical trials in the UK are carefully overseen to ensure they're worthwhile and safely conducted.
Speak to your care team if you're interested in taking part in a clinical trial.
Some people with MS find that complementary therapies help them feel better.
Many complementary treatments and therapies claim to ease symptoms, although scientific evidence is often not clear about how effective they are.
Many people think that complementary treatments have no harmful effects. But people can occasionally experience problems, and it's not a good idea to use them as an alternative to medicines prescribed by your doctor.
If you're considering using an alternative treatment alongside your prescribed medicines, it's important to let your doctor know your plans.
If you find it difficult to look after yourself, your local authority may be able to provide you with some help. Ask for a care and support needs assessment.
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