contrast MRI or not necessary to diagnose MS?

[alison72774]

Hi, I am just wondering if you must have an MRI with contrast in order to see lesions and get dx'd with MS? Or would they see the lesions on a normal cervical MRI? I have had my left arm go numb and have painful neuritis in that arm for almost 8 years. The numbness comes and goes for a few months at a time generally. Now in this past year, I have also developed muscle jerks in that same arm, sometimes my legs will jerk as well as my head occasionally but mostly my left arm. I also have a band across the back of my scalp that feels numb, this also comes and goes. I have also had a few optical migraines in the last couple years that were pretty bad, in addition to some blurred vision which seems worse in my left eye. In addition to that, I also have seen little twinkling white lights on occasion in my field of vision.
I also have some word recall issues on some days when I can't retrieve the word I am looking for. In addition to all this, I have been struggling with painful areas of muscles(rib area, under arms, down the arms, the outside of my thighs and also my abdomen and along my spine). Have been told I likely have fibromyalgia but two drs I have seen think there is something more going on. Two neurologists, both have said not MS based on my neuro exam in the office. I have had two spine surgeries in the last year and a half on my lower spine. I also had a regular MRI w/o contrast last winter to see why my arm is going numb but they only found minimal foraminal stenosis in c6/7 and also noted some arthritis but mild. The surgeon told me my neck wants to close on the nerves a little bit with flexion which is the opposite of what the bones should do, he does not know why it does that and he had only seen it once with another patient after a trauma.
And just recently, I was also told I have vaso vagal(positional primarily) and the heart dr wants me to start on meds to keep me from fainting from low pressure.
I realize I have a lot of spine stuff going on, but I don't know where these muscle jerks are coming from. They were with me last winter for a few months and then disappeared only to return in July this year. They get uncomfortable after awhile and I have dropped numerous things with my left arm. Can anyone tell me if this could be MS?

[alison72774]

I have read that you should have contrast but have also seen that some patients were dx'd without contrast...I have a disc of my cervical spine mri and swear I see on a few of the images what seems like a lesion very similar to the oval shaped ones I see online on other people's images with MS...same shape and size but dim to see, you really have to focus on it..although a radiologist looked it over, it had been ordered to see if there were any discs bulging or herniated and I wonder if the radiologist missed it, not sure if they have any other flags telling them there is a signal change in the cord or is it all visual..wish I knew! The more I look at it, the more I swear that it is a lesion and was missed! And I really wish they used contrast so I would know for sure:( Wonder if there is any radiologists online here that could take a peek at it and ease my worries..