The 3 blood tests for APS or Hughes Syndrome are :-
1) aCL (or) anticardiolipin antibodies
2) LA (or) Lupus Anticoagulant Screen
3) anti-B2GP1 (or) anti-beta2-glycoprotein-1
It is important that all 3 are carried out & then repeated 6 to 12 weeks if necessary.
Great information on:- hughes-syndrome.org
APS was recently named after the founder Professor Hughes. As a symptom they actually include MS because it can produce many of the symptoms MS can.
I was so worried about this mimic of MS that I got myself checked several times. I do have other autoimmune problems though so I wanted to be sure. To ensure there is no confusion the Lupus Anticoagulant does not mean you have lupus & is separate to ANA.
Good luck.
Karry.
Thank you for the links!
Yes Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 have been worked up. Both are in the high normal range. sigh....
I'm in a pickle in a small town. ONE MS Neuro in this town and he doesn't want to do the work, only takes "classic" patients. But, I can travel, and I will.
Hmmm.... have not been tested for APS, putting that on the list. Thank you!
Hi there & welcome,
I don't see the 3 blood tests for APS or B12 studies. There are many many more things to rule out. This should not be your job to be finding these things out. You need a good Neuro. I'm sorry you are doing what your Neuro should be. :-(
It's all too common to see this. I would definitely do what ess is suggesting.
Good luck & keep us posted.
Karry.
Hi and welcome.
I get SO annoyed with neuros like yours. Their thoughtfulness and imagination run the gamut from A to B. Not all MS lesions, by any means, light up and blink and sing 'Look at me! I'm MS!'
Classic MS lesions certainly make things easier for doctors because they don't have to think. Maybe thinking is an alien concept to them, who knows. The main reason some lesions are called classic is that there are also non-classic lesions, which do require thinking, in the context of lots of other considerations, including rule-out tests.
I certainly can't tell you whether or not you have MS, but I can say that lots of other contenders have been eliminated. What you need is a better doctor, who will do his or her best to track everything down, and at the very least, keep following you to see what develops. Yes, this will probably mean travel for you, but you can probably avoid many blind alleys by doing some thorough web searches, finding out which medical reports likely candidates would be interested in, and having everything forwarded in advance of any appointment.
A good place to track down competent doctors is the website of the Consortium of MS Centers. Good luck.
ess
HI AnnaMarie,
It sounds as if you have had a pretty thorough workup. I don't see a Vitamin-12 value. In our Health Pages ,located to the right of this column, are 2 articles that might interest you. The first is a Page about mimcs and the testing done to rule them out and the second Health Page is how you can have a negative MRI and still have MS.
I had everything ruled out and after my lip biopsy to rule out Sjogren's Syndrome (since I had erroneously been treated for that for years since my lesions didn't fit the McDonald Criteria), I received my diagnosis. I finally found a neuro (#7) that wasn't a "lesion counter" and he ran every test over again and I received a diagnosis after 4 years of testng.
I hope this helps and and sending you good vibes that you find an answer soon!
Here are the links:
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple-Sclerosis/MS-Mimics---Part-I/show/375?cid=36
http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple-Sclerosis/How-Can-a-Person-with-MS-Have-a-Negative-MRI/show/161?cid=36
I hope they help!
Rendean
May be Lupus that is one they ruled out with me after I had 12 o-bands in the CSF and not the blood. I had a classic MS brain MRI and it took two years and 6 Neurologists before I was diagnosed with MS.
Alex