Scotland has one of the highest rates of condition in the world

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.

With MS, the coating that protects nerves (myelin) is damaged, causing a range of symptoms like blurred vision and problems with how people move, think and feel, making it harder to do everyday things, like walk, talk, eat and think.

Once diagnosed, MS stays with the person for life, but treatments and specialists can help them to manage the condition and its symptoms.

More than 15,000 people in Scotland have MS, one of the highest rates of the condition in the world, and each week, 130 people are diagnosed across the UK.

MS has many symptoms, and not everyone who has it will experience all of them.

Visible symptoms can include loss of balance and dizziness, muscle stiffness or spasms, tremor and speech problems.

Symptoms other people may not notice include fatigue, pain, bladder problems, bowel trouble, vision problems, difficulty swallowing and oral health problems.

MS – which affects three times as many women as men – can also affect memory, thinking and emotions and can have a detrimental impact on mental health.

Around 85 per cent of people with the condition are diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS), during which they have attacks of new and old symptoms for a period of 24 hours or more.

Symptoms that have been experienced previously or that the person has grown used to dealing with might appear in a different part of their body.

In relapses, symptoms often stay for four to six weeks, though this can vary from very short periods of only a few days to many months.

Relapses can also vary from mild to severe instances. At their worst, acute relapses may need hospital treatment, but many relapses are managed at home, with the support of a GP, MS specialist nurse, and other care professionals.