Both hypo- and hyperthyroidism are rare. Because of the patient's weakness, the clinical diagnosis of hypothyroidism is often made early but is not supported by laboratory evidence. Irregular or absent menses in females is a frequent complication of multiple sclerosis. The symptoms develop early or late and are usually accompanied by fatigue. In many cases, potency, sex drive, and normal menstruation return after recovering from the fatigue - usually after a long rest.
Patients have a greatly reduced tolerance to alcohol.
Many seem less tolerant of wine than beer, whiskey, and other similar spirits. Some of our early studies suggested that smokers tended to deteriorate faster than nonsmokers. The differences were not great and lacked satisfactory statistical significance. However, both temporal vision and balance were found to be almost immediately depressed by smoking, the effect lasting for about one hour. Marijuana has been hailed by the press as beneficial to multiple sclerosis patients.