Ms Testing

There are so many autoimmune diseases that mimic ms. And an mri is not always conclusive. There is a new blood test that doctors can do to diagnos ms. But I don't think many doctors know of it. Go to aarda.Org and you can get info on it.

Hey,
just wondering what kind of symptoms u have? I have also been experiencing some symptoms & have had ms in the family. I went to a neuro- he doesnt think I have ms but is still sending me for an mri to make sure I dont have it. Good luck in finding out what u have!
Keep smiling

Ms is such a mysterious disease and has so many turns and twists that each case is viewed on its own merits. In other words, what marks one person's diagnosis of ms can be completely missing in another person. While it is true that the primary tests can come back as negative and the person will still eventually be diagnosed with ms, that is not always the case. Are you taking any meds to relieve any symptoms you are having? Sometimes that's the best treatment - treat the symptoms as they occur, and continue to have periodic testing if the symptoms keep presenting problems.

I am 25 and I had a stroke almost 2 months ago. A doctor had mentioned ms to me but then no further discussion took place with me after I was hospitalized, because of a severe headache and lost of vision. I am now 100% blind in both left sides of my eyes. After the mri came back showing I had a stroke I was scared there was something wrong with me other then a stroke. Can strokes be caused by ms and or can ms cause strokes?? Please someone give me some advice because I am suffering from alot of the syptoms of ms. I have sharp shooting pain in my muscles and have tremors that I can not control at times I also am tired all the time. I am afraid I have been mis dianoised. Can someone give me some advice on what to do next? I also noticed my short term memory is not the same, I forget little things like when I am in the shower I cant remember if I already washed my hair things like that I forget. Thank you to anyone who responds to this message

I have researched and studied ms extensively since I was diagnosed with it in june 1998. All my readings show absolutely no connection between the two. Ms does not cause strokes; the damage that is incurred in a person with ms concerns their nerve (neural) pathways.

The insulation around the nerve pathways gets attacked by "something" which causes scar tissue to build up in that attacked spot (sclerosis means "scarring"), blocking messages from the brain that would ordinarily go down that nerve pathway. In turn, the lack of whatever the brain's message was may cause something bad to happen to the body.

For example, if the hand is reaching toward an open flame, with the assistance of the nerve pathways, a feeling of heat is recognized by the brain. In return, the brain sends out the message by means of the same or a different nerve pathway to withdraw the hand because an injury is imminent. If that message is blocked because of scar tissue short-circuiting the warning, the person could end up with a nasty burn.

Ms does not affect the vascular system, unless it is in an indirect way as with the hand in the above example. Strokes are caused primarily because of blood clots in the blood vessels in the brain. When the blood clots, there is no blood flowing past that spot and that means oxygen is not getting carried to the "heart" of the brain where it is needed to carry out normal brain function (including vision, movement of limbs, speech, and so much more). The amount of the damage the stroke causes is dependent upon where in the brain the blood clot occurred; different body functions are controlled by different areas of the brain.

25 is extremely young to suffer a stroke. Has your doctor found a specific cause for it? Why specifically are you scared that you have something wrong besides the stroke? Since you have already had the primary test (the mri) that usually rules out or confirms ms, has a neurologist read the mri? It is possible to have ms without anything showing up on the mri yet. Another test is usually performed if a diagnosis of ms is suspected. It's called a spinal tap (or "lumbar puncture") wherein a sample of the fluid in your spinal column is tested for certain antibodies and other data. The spinal tap can be negative also and you can still have ms. In my case, my mri showed "lesions" on my brain (which corresponds to attacks upon my nerve pathways, but it does not tell which ones) but my spinal tap was negative for ms. Yet I was diagnosed using my symptoms and the positive mri.

What kind of doctor have you dealt with already? If it was a neurologist, i'd suggest talking to him specifically about what the mri showed in relation to the symptoms you are having now. If you aren't satisfied by his answer or if he just brushes you off, i'd certainly get a copy of your mri and take it to a second neurologist, preferably a ms specialist, to get a second opinion. Ms is notoriously hard to diagnose and can sometimes take years to pin down, but there is no reason you have to suffer the way you are in the meantime. There are medications to help out with your symptoms, which a competent neurologist would give some consideration to.

I have a partner whom I believe to have MS. Just recently unemployed there is no insurance, of course. I am trying to get testing done in order to maybe be able to apply for some kind of disability. This disease is very complicated. I have become very in tune to seeing an onset of a flare up. Unfortunately, if I don't catch it just right and the flare up goes full blown, before we have a chance to talk about it a little, discussion becomes a mute point. Angry and denial on my partners part is a sure sign it is in full flare up for me. Is this common for others? if so how do spouses deal with it? The person in full flare up that stands in front of me is not the partner I know. I don't even know what to say then.
Thanks
Stacey 66

if you've had either the anthrax or smallpox vaccinations you may want to do some more research about them. a week ago i was convinced i had MS but they couldnt find anything wrong w/ me. ive discovered that the vaccinations can actually have side effects that are often brushed off as auto immune disorders. good luck

Hey Gasman what did you find on those vaccinations? Because I have had them all and this past 6 months I have been having too many symptoms of something and just recently I woke with a headache that doesnt go away and blurred vision, the Army docs are telling me that I am stressed and probably always had poor vision, but in 2 weeks I went from seeing just fine to needing glasses, also have grainy vision and little light colored dots swimming around crazily in my eyes, can only see them if I look at solid colors, plus some days I am extremley fatigued more than any normal workday.

I was diagnosed with MS about a week ago and I am still trying to get my head around the whole thing since it came as quite a shock. This last test that I had (a spinal tap) was actually my third test for MS. Since I had already had an MRI and that came back negative for MS and I had some blood work that came back negative for MS I thought it was pretty positive that the symptoms I was experiencing were caused by something else. My neurologist was a little surprised that the first two tests came back negative for for MS and so he recommended a spinal tap since none of the other tests had shed any light as to what was exactly going on. When he stated that one of the tests that would be run from with the spinal fluid would be for MS I almost laughed.
Approximately three weeks after the test I was told via phone call that the result from the spinal tap was slightly elevated antibodies, however, when I went to the neurologists' office several weeks later I was told that the results from my spinal tap show that I have MS.
I have learned in the past week that it is possible for some tests to come back as negative for MS and to go years without a diagnosis so I guess that I am fortunate that I only underwent testing for one year before getting a diagnosis. I am still a little shocked though and some-what in denial.