RECENT MRI'S AND SYMPTOMS

[JadeyC]

Hi, Im 27 and Ive been ill for the past 2 1/2 years. This first started off with what consultants thought was a TIA (hands tingling, coldness running up arm, face dropping and tounge number, speach slurred) and my hands continued to tingle for a month after that. Then two months later, i had another funny turn and my eyesight was all blurry for an hour, tingling in hands, felt sick and really funny, again hands tingling for a month after that and felt sick. MRI'S CLEAR

8 months later on a plane back from Turkey i fell ill again with so many neuro problems going on e.g face dropping, tingling, spasms, couldnt walk etc this continued for a further 6-7months. The first neuro consultant i saw told me to breath in and out a paper bag?? He was on a different planet. Paid for my own MRI's because the consultant said i was wasting nhs money. These again were clear. 2nd consultant i saw i mentioned that my symptoms were exactly the same as MS. He said i didnt have this and that i had a dysfunctional neuro disorder, and because my symptoms had improved, he said if i fell ill again that i needed to see a neuropsychologist because he thought it was in my head.

June last year 2012 not long after i had been on holiday i fell ill again with loads of neuro symptoms again felt sick, legs all wobbly and heavy, face going, spasms, aching, chronic fatigue, balance, speach hard to get words out when talking, bladder problems. This is still all ongoing. The last consulant i saw wouldnt see me again because he felt that i didnt need further investigation. In December i saw a neuropsychologist she could see i was 100% fine and that there was nothing psychologically wrong. She kindly went out of her way and booked me in for further mri's.

I was also referred to chronic fatigue centre for M.E and saw someone in January, she said she had never come across anyone with so many neuro symptoms and that because of all this going on around my body it will make me tired. All they could offer me offer me a few sessions on managing the fatifue.

Last week i had the results through for my recent MRI's and they showed that there had been changes since my last one and that they had found a Small Focul of Hypersensitivity Right Posterior Frontal Head and on my spinal MRI's i had a bulging disc. I Have looked up what these results are and am i right in saying that its lesion or lesions and with my symptoms could almost certainly be MS???

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome to our little MS community,

Q: "I Have looked up what these results are and am i right in saying that its lesion or lesions and with my symptoms could almost certainly be MS???"

A: Not necessarily, because that one lesion alone isn't enough diagnostic evidence to support a dx of MS, you need at least 2 lesions in 2 or more  specific areas (see Mcdonald Criteria). If the lesion was in an MS location then the MRI evidence would be leaning more towards MS but it isn't, though keep in mind that MRI's following MS protocol for various reasons, are more likely to pick up MS lesions better that none protocol.

Do you know anything about the MRI you had eg strength machine, open/closed, with and without contrast, slice 3m or 5m etc?  

If the MRI is the only test evidence you have to go on, so you dont have other test results indicating or proof of neurological causation eg visual or nerve tests etc or clinical signs of lesions found by the neuro tests eg clonus, hyperreflex etc then i'd say that all the MS mimics and other possible explanations are still highly possible.

Honestly, one lesion located in that area of the brain, is not actually indicative of anything specific enough, it can't alone cause all the sx's you've listed so unless there are more detected in other areas of the brain, or more evidence of it being neuological and not something like migraine etc then i'm afraid i'd have to say causation is still a big unknown.

Apart from the MRI and psych testing looking for a cause, what else have you been tested for, or did mental health get thrown up and thats as far as anyones looked?

Cheers.......JJ  

[LivingInHope]

Which spinal disc is bulging according to the MRI report?  The discs are cushions between bones in the spinal column (vertebrae) with the spinal cord running through the vertebrae.  A bulging disc does not have to be a symptom of MS.

I'm planning to try to get your post switched to the MS forum since there are many active community members there and you will be likely to get feedback on the other things in your post:
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Multiple-Sclerosis/show/41