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My neuro told me I have MS after doing an MRI. I went to him after half of my face went numb. The MRI showed 2 lesions in my brain and one in my cervicals. No spinal tap was done. I have read a lot of peoples diagnoses process and many have done both. Should I get a spinal tap too?
I ask because I have recently become aware of many people that have been misdiagnosed with MS. There are many articles about it, including one recent study, posted below.
http://msfocus.org/news-details.aspx?newsID=… read more
It's not necessary to make the diagnosis, remember up to 20% of people with clinically definite MS have normal spinal taps. Also, bands show up for many reasons other than MS. It's not a perfect system. The usefulness of this test varies between individuals and not everyone with MS needs to have it done. A MS specialist will be able to tell you if it's necessary or not. If they dont feel it's necessary don't stress.
MRI lesions also dont always mean MS, many completely benign things like migraines cause lesions. Spinal lesions however are never benign. It's also about context, the clinical history along with MRI findings is how the diagnosis is made.
Multiple lesions alone don't mean more than one event. People with migraines can have multiple lesions for example. They have to be "disseminated in space" meaning different areas of the CNS ie brain + spine or different areas of the brain. Or "disseminated in time" meaning new lesions appear on sequential MRI's or the presence of a black hole meaning old permanent area of damage, new enhancing lesion with more older appearing lesions etc. Point being not all lesions are created equal.
Either way, it's not a cookbook diagnosis that's the same for everyone but rather the sum total of all of the evidence, specific MRI characteristics, symptoms, history etc. LP and other tests are some times used as "tie breakers" so to speak or to rule out other things rather than "ruling in" MS.
Even after the spinal tap it can be difficult accepting the diagnosis. At first it seems to be all you think about. However, as the weeks become months it does become easier.
My advice is to give it time. I do not have any significant pain. My main problems are sensory and double vision. Heat sensitivity can be a problem though. Take care.
Let me tell you what they did to me. After the MRIs showed leisions they did bloodwork and the spinal tap the same day. First they took about 14 vials of blood. Then right after that they did a spinal tap. With the bloodwork they looked for EVERYTHING. Three weeks later I got the results. One week after that I started meds.
@A MyMSTeam Member Thank you.
@A MyMSTeam Member Thanks for all of the info. Love your profile picture, by the way :)
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