I'M SORRY YOU NOT FEELING WELL. WHAT SYMPTOMS ARE YOU HAVING? HAVE YOU CONSIDER CHANGING DOCTORS SINCE THEY CAN NOT FIND A REASON FOR YOUR PAIN? MY NEURO RAN SEVERAL DIFFERENT TEST BEFORE TELLING ME THAT I HAVE MS. HE DID BLOOD WORK TO RULE OUT EVERYTHING ELSE. HE ALSO DID A LUMBAR PUNCTURE. HE RAN SEVERAL MRI's, TOO. I'M SORRY I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE IMAGES OF THE BRAIN. I HOPE YOU CAN FIND THE ANSWER YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. BEST OF LUCK!

Thank your very much for your reply.
My doctors also have run many tests to rule out other possibilities. I have been dx with arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Migraines, IBS, Bipolar 2, Major Depressive Disorder, Degenerative Disc Disease, and Chronic Vertigo. However, they can not explain the serious memory issues I am having, nor can they contribute the chronic vertigo to any of my other dx. Since most of my symptoms seems to have become most severe and the same time period, and not ever gone away completely, I feel they are more likely all connected rather than just a collection of separate issues.

I know nothing about an MRA, but I did look at your MRI. I noticed the spots you were referring to, but didn't see anything that shouted MS to me. I know that it's possible to have some spots either from age or stress or a million other things, there are certain "slices" from the MRI that you would usually look at specifically for MS (e.g. "Dawsons Fingers). I'm not a doctor and I don't know a great deal about this though.

Either way, sounds like you are going through a rough time and don't trust the doctors you have.. I would recommend getting a second opinion from either an MS specailist or another neuro on both the MRA and MRI and see what they say? Good Luck!

Thank you very much for your reply. You are right I am having serious doubts about my neuro. He is my second opinion. However, my first opinion is a neuro who works at the same hospital and in the same department as he does. On his first meeting with me he brought in an intern and without so much as examining me he started of smugly, almost parroting word for word what his colleague had told me. And he takes on this same tone every time he has talked to me. Yea, it is true from that point on he lost credibility with me,because he seemed to approach my case with a tainted point of view, perhaps based on conversations about my case with his colleague, me even before he met me.

Anyways, I don't have any other options because I have no medical insurance, but gratefully I qualify for free medical care through our community hospital, and other than this situation I feel so grateful to have the excellent care I am receiving. It is just in this are I feel stuck. And as my condition(s) continue to decline I am almost frantic for an answer.

Anyways thanks for the info about Dawson's Finger. I will try to educate myself on this.

May you have a wonderful day.

Hello

I am sorry for what you are going though I myself went though this as well. It took them six years to dx me with ms and this was after I started seeing a ms specialist. I don't mean to fightern you but I can only relate to my class. I was dx with ms in nove even though I had systems and small lesions like you my lesions are my brain and spine they do-not look like Dawson fingers.My ms neuro told as I fall into the 10% of msers that have non-typical ms lesions. That is why it took them that long to dx me. Neuros never tell you about non-typical lesions until you are dx with them. All I can say hang in there and keep fighting as you your self now how you are feeling. It may take awhile and I do hope you get some answers sooner then later.

Take care angel

I really appreciate your reply. It gives me some hope. Sometimes I begin if all this is really happening to me, but then, on days, especially like today I am hit square in the face with the reality of it all. It's like being in a very bad dream. All I want to do is wake up. Why can't I wake up. It's because this is real, and I have to deal with it. It is what I am now.

Is it so much to want to know this realities name? I feel a need to label it. It's as if naming it will give me some kind of power over it. Does anyone else feel this way?

Well anyways,

Thank you very much again. You have touched my heart.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Sincerely,

rsimmons

We are all lay people and therefore can only speak thru our own experiences. I have had MS for 22 yrs but it took 10 yrs and a second attack to confirm it.

To my eye you have very few 'white' spots. Mine in the brain are always mostly in the periventricular area. An MRA is done if an anuerism is suspected and probably other reasons. Typically NOT done for MS. I had one done because they saw what they thought was a bulge on one of my vesels - turned out to be nothing. An MRI is only 1 tool of several used to diagnosing MS. MRI's can be clear for many years even though you have symptoms.

Neuros are a strange breed of doctors. My original PCP told me she couldn't recommend one because all the ones she knew were 'weird'. This is in Boston, MA. Talk about arrogance-its all over here.. And guess what...she was right. It took a long time to find a good doctor.

The test that confirmed MS (to me in particular) was evoked potetial test. There are 4 things tested: eyes, legs, auditory and one other I forget. They measure the time it takes for input to travel down the nerve to the brain. My visual evoked potentials were markedly abnormal although I have no vision troubles. The auditory one confirmed a lesion on the 8th cranial nerve (that controls balance)

Do you have acess to an academic medical center? This is one of the best places to go for a thorough work up and diagnosis.

If you seek a 2nd opinion you must go somewhere outside of where you got the original opinion. I understand the health insurance problem. Can you get medicaid? Again a large teaching hospital usully must take that as payment..

One more thing, a neuropsych test is a good idea if you are having cognitive/memory problems. You want to get a baseline evaluation to look at later if you continue to have problems,

Good luck, It is sometimes a long frustrating proceees. But you are doing a very good job of what we all have to do---advocate for yourself.

Wishing you all the best,

Melanie

Thank you Melanie,
Such great information. I will look into the academic medical center. I also appreciate the 411 on neuros in general. What a trip. I am so glad to find out my hospital just happens to have a "special" collection of it's own. That really made me laugh, and I needed that.

Thanks again.

As someone with PPMS, I have routine MRI's performed every 24 months to keep track of the lesions (and to have a fun game of "connect the dots" with...lol). Looking at your MRIs...they look different than any I've had personally. That doesn't mean you do/don't have MS...however if I were you - I'd consider inquiring with your neurologist the possibility of these focal spots being the result of ischemic brain lesions (which can appear similar to MS lesions). Ischemic lesions can be caused by various diseases/conditions (metabolic disorders, "mini" strokes, vasculitis, etc)...all of which need to be addressed by a physician/neuro who knows what they're doing (just because they're a neuro does NOT mean they know how to treat all neurological/venous disorders).

I think a lot of us have been where you are. It took 2 yrs & 5 Dr's to get my dx. You didn't say if your neuro was an MS specialist or not. If not that would be the 1st thing to do. This can be a long, frustrating process, hang in there.

There is a 2010 revision to the McDonald criterion based on MRI results to help diagnose and evaluate MS. There are also MS "like" diseases that are diagnosed now as well as a bunch of demyelating nerve diseases.

Might want to do an internet search for "McDonald Criterion,+MS"

It sounds like they are saying these are likely to be ischemic changes which would indicate something ling TIA's otherwise known as mini srokes. They havn't ruled out MS but there are some pretty strict criteria to diagnosis MS and if you don't meet all those criteria they may call it probable or possible MS or not even go that far, depending on how many of the criteria you meet.

Thanks guys for your replies. I have found them both very helpful. I will look in to that McDonald Criterion, +MS.

Interesting you should mention demyelating nerve diseases. I saw my rheumotologist today, and she told me that one of the things she and my neuro have been discussing as a possible for my is this demylelating optic neuritis.

I have also read that 77% of women who have been diagnosed with DND eventually get diagnosed with MS.

Thanks again for the info.