Question about diagnosing multiple sclerosis

[montymoo]

I have been feeling poorly for the past month and one of the conditions suspected is MS. From my very limited knowledge about it, there is a type of ms that comes and goes. If the symptoms have gone by the time the neurologist appointment arrives, will he still be able to determine that ms is a possible? Or will he just go by what he can see then and there at that time?

Regardless of what symptoms you have that day, the doctor will probably take a full history from you and do a thorough neurological examination.

Depending on that, he/she will decide if you need further tests, such as an mri scan of the brain or nerve conduction studies, etc.

I believe it takes a while to form a full picture of what is going on. Many symptoms of ms can be caused by other conditions.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

This is a helpful forum where you can ask loads of MS questions.

Usually, they are looking for lesions on an MRI, however there are many differing stories on this board. (I was tested last year so joined).

Thanks for your replies. Milliways I have looked at that site and it looks quite good. What was the outcome for you last year?

Clear MRI so discharged from Neuro. I took Pregabalin for many months and stopped in Feb/March when I realised the real pains & headaches had stopped.

I now get random tingling, odd shooting pains, burning patches, wet sensations etc but they are all very "come & go" and I can live with them. If I get the crushing fatigue back, or Trigimenal Headaches or Eye pain again I will go back.

My view is, if it IS undiagnosed MS then so be it, I will know definately if it relapses again, but in the meantime I have "remission" or nothing wrong at all (just all in my head!!) so will make the most of it. There are people on that site who have had clear scans, and lesions showed up years later, but I was probably making myself worse keep thinking about it.

Hi
MS is not too hard to diagnose but the symptoms can vary greatly from person to person. Pins and needles is a big symptom though.
They normally do some reflex tests (they can be normal though so it doesn't always indicate that a patient has MS), they then do a MRI scan which detects demylation, it shows up white plaques/lesions on the brain. A lumbar puncture can then be done which looks for bands in the fluid, a high number indicates an active disease. The type of MS you are referring to is relapsing remissive, it comes and goes but the nerve problems still remain. I have this, the nerves miss-fire and it causes a burning sensation (like when you spray deep heat after pulling a muscle), it's worse when I am tired. I take medication for the fatigue which works very well. I have met a few people who have only been ill a couple of times and have been fine since then so don't see it as something bad, take each day as it comes and deal with each problem if and when it arises.
If your symptoms are not there then they can still pick it up from the MRI and lumbar puncture. There can be a period before the demyelation though where the main symptoms can be pins and needles/IBS symptoms/fatigue, these may not show up.

I was tired/pins and needles/IBS for a few years and became ill in March last year. I didn't know what it was, it started with the deep heat burning in my face, a few days later it felt as though legs were going to give way when I walked, then I felt 'drunk' for a few days. It took a while to get a referral to a neurologist, I was told it was a migraine when I was finally seen but he ordered a MRI to shut me up, it detected a few areas of demyelation, I was given the choice of having a lumbar puncture to see if it was MS or an infection that caused this, this was when MS was detected.

If you want to ask anything then please do