Hi everyone, I was just wondering if someone would be kind enough to give me some much needed advice please , I am currently under a neurologist after nearly 3 years of ms symptoms , firstly my mri of my brain shows 2 very small spots, so I then needed a spinal mri which is showing a very large is what the neurologist said lesion, he now wants me to to have another mri of my spine but with a dye, I mentioned ms to him and he said he unsure as the lesion is to large! He also said he wants one more blood test from me but never told me what for but after seeing label i researched it and it said devic’s diseaes, Nmo-lgG test and also lymes disease, is he right about the large lesion? As I honesty feel in myself that its ms, has anybody on here had the same tests done? and been told the same thing regarding sizes of lesions on the spinal cord. Hope you can help
I was dx in nov with multiple lesions on my brain and yrs of symptoms. I start dmds on 26th march but have been referred for a dye mri and an lp if neccessary. Your situation is very similar to mine so im interested on the replies
Hi, my neuro mentioned the dreaded lp but said it could come back inconclusive, I’ve managed to write my symptoms down as its one new attack after another with only a few weeks in between in which I feel ok, then I’m hit with awful fatigue, blurred vision, pressure in my back and somtimes around the front, numbness and tingling in my legs and my feet hurt so bad I cry, today my toes on right foot have been throbbing sice lastnight, its not overly painful just very annoying and my left ankle has gone numb and tingly and another bout of buzzing in my toes, I’m warn out with all these symptoms there are others, but I feel like my family and friends dont want to listen anymore, I just want a diagnosis of what ever it is so I can deal with it (accept it) I imagine thats how you feel, hope you dont mind me asking but what was yr first symptom, mine was a pressure type pain and numbing sensation with tingling in the middle section of my back right side close to spine.
Numb toes on left foot. I have been told the nerve damage is done and i will never the feeling back. Search my posts and they echo yours considerably. I dont accept i have ms just yet but when i start the rebif i imagine it will hit home.
Was the blood test you had to rule out devic’s disease, its rare but has neurological symptoms and from what I read can be pretty nasty , Im being tested for that cause of the large spinal lesion, but yr right about it being similar to what you went through with yr neurologist, having that test to rule out somthing more serious
Ive more blood tests coming. Ive just had an hiv ans syphyllus test agai and another lyme test so awaiting results as to what happens next. More serious neuro disorders have been mentioned but the specialist wasnot specific
Hello and welcome 
MS and NMO are easily confused with each other, the symptoms are so similar, but a very large lesion in the spine is one of the things that points neuros towards Devic’s/NMO. The other thing that people with NMO tend to have is optic neuritis because it’s a disorder that tends to attack the spinal cord and optic nerves more than the brain.
MS and NMO have different treatments so it’s important to get the right diagnosis; very frustrating to have to wait though!
I hope you get some answers soon.
Karen x
Hi apart from having ms symptoms iv also started getting blurred vision its mild at the moment though, my vision in my left eye was damaged due to a corneal ulcer when I was a child so I only have one good eye which is a worry, but iv noticed that when neuro asked the nurse to access my eyesite I was seeing double out my left eye but not noticed before as the vision is so severely scarred, as we speak my vision dont seem right and my right foot is driving me mad it has a weird pressure type pain around my toes had this for 3 days now its horrible and its like its fell to sleep, fizzy I think its terrible yr bloods wasent sent and the fact that u have waited so long for the results too, my neuro told me that he could do an LP but it might come back inconclusive so iv got to have another mri of my spine but this time with dye, is he looking for somthing else? ? Tracy x
LPs aren’t always all that helpful in deciding between MS and NMO because some people with MS have a negative result and some people with NMO have a positive result.
They use dye / “contrast” with MRI to look for new MS lesions that might not be visible yet on normal MRI. The contrast they use can’t normally pass through the blood brain barrier, so if they can see any inside the brain or spinal cord, they know there is a breach there which is a sign of an actively forming lesion.
I wasn’t sure how this would help differentiate between MS and NMO so had a quick google: apparently the contrast looks different in NMO than it does in MS - more “cloud-like”. So I guess that’s why your neuro wants to do the contrast scan.
Do ask your GP for help with your symptoms: you don’t need a diagnosis to get pain relief. If the GP won’t prescribe anything without your neuro’s approval, give your neuro’s secretary a call and ask for help.
Kx
Hi rizzo thankyou for that info as its helped me understand better now, my neuro has prescribed me pregabalin I was a little dubious about taking them cause of the side effects but il give them a try as all I’ve been taking is cocodomal or tramadol which only take the edge off pain I have. Tracy x