Most people with a mitochondrial disease experience symptoms that affect multiple systems at the same time.
There are a variety of symptoms that people might see before, or after, they have been diagnosed with Mito.
Mito symptoms can be mild or severe, differ by individual, and depend on which cells of the body are affected. The two most common mito symptoms are muscle weakness and exercise intolerance which leads to feelings of exhaustion. Mito affects different parts of the body, and patients often have symptoms affecting multiple organ systems. Organs most commonly affected include the brain, nerves, heart,pancreas, liver, eyes, and kidneys. This is because each of these relies very heavily on energy production from the mitochondria to function properly.
Mito symptoms may include impaired hearing and vision, ataxia (challenges with balance, coordination and speech), seizures, learning disabilities and poor growth. Children with mito may have difficulty developing certain skills, such as sitting, crawling, walking, speaking and learning. Remember that no one symptom can give a diagnosis; it’s a combination of symptoms and how they continue to present over time, and during certain activities, that need to be considered.
Since most people with mito experience symptoms that affect multiple systems simultaneously, common symptoms are grouped and referred to as syndromes. Symptoms of mito syndromes are outlined in the charts below.