If MS is caught early on, treatment can be started sooner, which can have a positive impact on the prognosis of the disease. In addition, taking medicine soon after the first symptoms appear reduces how many times those symptoms will recur. At least over the short term, people who take MS medicines early are less likely to have a disability when compared with people who do not. People who started medicine early—within 6 months to 2 years after the initial diagnosis—were less disabled than those who began medicine later.