MS and Neck MRI

[John23a]

i was just wondering could MS be diagnosed with an MRI from the neck but not the actual brain? i have done an MRI from my neck which was clear but im concerned about having MS and i want to go for an MRI but that will take about 3 months. I just want to see if i can calm down a bit before the actual head MRI.

another question i have for everyone is what was their first symptoms that made them concerned about MS and what was their early symptoms like?

thank u

[roncart]

truthfully I have been doctoring over time for various health problems and when I went to a new family doctor with leg fasculations he wanted a brain and lumbar mri. It was then that ms came into play due to brain ms brain pattern lesions. Looking into the ms symptoms I saw alot of the things I have been doctoring for, for years. example(unexplained bouts of severe vertigo, seizures,acid reflux,low thyroid, nerve pain(burning in legs) unexplained voice hoarseness and now severe muscle spasms in my legs which prompted me to go to a new neuro doctor

[John23a]

thank you both for your response
i know each person has different symptoms but what made you go to the doctor? what were your early symptoms of MS like?

[roncart]

I believe that you should have the brain mri because alot of the time the lesions are there and not in the neck or the thorasic spine. I know from my own experience that ms is a hard disease to diagnois because I myself have had many many health problems over the years that now looking at ms all fall into place. I have what the doctors are calling classic brain lesions and yet I went to some doctors who weren't convinced I had ms because I did not constantly have balance problems. They disregared the 2 seperate bouts of vertigo that were sooo bad I could not even sit up. They came 18 mos. apart. I hope you get your answers. Good luck to you

[sllowe]

Hi there,

I'm so sorry that you are not getting the treatment you need for the anxiety.  It must be very difficult to get through.

That site you asked a question on should not have told you - you had MS.  I'm sorry this is contributing to your worry..

The best advice I can give is to discuss all of what you've been so honest with us about with a Dr. who can make sure you get the assistance you need.   If your family Dr. is unable to do this - please ask him or her to someone who can help and is willing to work with you....you are so very young and deserve to feel well....

[John23a]

thank you for the response

well i have posted here before i suffer from health anxiety and i have come to believe that i have MS. i checked the symptoms online and i can relate to many of them but overall everyone around me says im healthy , and even my doctor thinks all my symptoms are based on my anxiety and thoughts.


im a 19 yrs old male. I have suffered from three major panic attacks, two of them caused by drugs. after a year of not touching any drugs and drinking i woke up and all of a sudden i strained my neck..i went to a doctor and he gave me this anti-inflammatory pill..i took it and went to bed but woke up next morning feeling numbed and feeling like i was going to pass out so i went to ER and had a blood test and a neck x-ray and they both came back normal. After going through a severe anxiety for a month and being in a constant Derealization and having all these weird symptoms (twitches, noises in the ear, stomach noises, feeling numb, shortness of breath, rapid hear beat i was diagnosed with Anxiety. Anyways after a month i started to feel normal again. i did a CT scan from my head, an MRI from my neck and a full blood test and they all came back normal. I was concerned about brain tumor and that made me feel better for couple of months..after hearing the test results most my symptoms went away until a month ago when all of a sudden i woke up one day feeling dreamy (derealization) and feeling like im in a movie. It got worse and from that day i havent felt normal even for an hour. Starting 2 weeks ago i started having symptoms again but this time it was a little different. Well im gonna make this short i have been feeling extremely tired lately, and from 2 days ago i started having this headache and this pain in the back of my eyes when i move my eyes to the left or right. Yesterday it was worse and when i pressed on my eyes i felt a severe pain. So i went to an ophthalmologist and she said that my eyes look perfectly fine (she checked the back of my eyes) and she said its probably due to stress/migraine/or allergies.

I posted this question about my eyes in this other forum and the doctor told me i might have MS. from then i started freaking out and i havent been able to eat anything or take my mind off this. I havent been active since last year because of my anxiety and not really on a good diet. I sometimes dont eat breakfast or even lunch. Im just always behind the computer searching for diseases i could have and now im really thinking i have MS. because a lot of my symptoms match with the ones of MS. i dont have anyone in my family with MS.

I dont have any twitching and i dont wake up with numbed hands or feet. But i do feel tired most the time. Maybe just because im not an active person and spend a lot of time behind the computer and not doing any type of exercises. My neck also feel stiffed and sometimes i feel like my neck muscles is like getting rotten..i also have this vision problem that i feel dreamy and sometimes its hard for me to focus on class when looking at the board..its like im looking at the board but i cant concentrate on the words..i had dizziness for a week but i dont have dizziness anymore..i dont see flashing lights or experience any double vision..but i do still have some symptoms that match both the ones from anxiety and MS like being fatigue, muscle stiffness, vision problems (cant focus on words sometimes)..sometimes when im falling sleep at night all of a sudden i twitch and i feel like i just got shocked by something but my doctor tells me thats due to stress..well after i started reading the symptoms of MS now i kind of get this twitching in my muscles every once in a while..its in a different part of my body every time...i think its just because i read about it and think about it and have been through so much lately..

im really worried and my family doctor tells me that im a healthy guy. im sure as soon as i tell him about this he would tell me that i dont have MS without doing further tests and just link it to anxiety.

Im not sure if these symptoms are all because of my anxiety over health problems or something else.

[biowham]

To answer your first symptom question, I'd say that my first noticeable one was paresthesias and a "weird" feeling in my right foot.


Bio

[sllowe]

Hi IbParadise,

Welcome to the MS forum. MS cannot be dx'd by MRI alone.  There are many tests that have to be completed including an extensive exam.  It's a clinical dx. Those tests include labs on your blood too.  

I wasn't concerned about MS at all.  I knew nothing about it and when it was brought up to me, I thought - these Drs are missing something, because I thought for sure I had a stroke -- symptoms were very consistent with that.  At the time, I was very uneducated on MS.

What's got you worried Ibizaparadise?

Thanks for joining us.
-shell