Hiya I’m new here I’ve not got a diagnosis however I recently was sent for an mri scan by my gp after increased falls and a history of headaches to rule out ms - - it hasn’t ruled out ms and I am awaiting a neurologist referral
About 11 years ago I started with extreme fatigue it was shunned off as being a mum of 3 kids then my b12 was slightly low so due to my family history of pernicious anaemia I pushed for treatment so have 12 weekly b12 injections they make a slight difference but not much … eventually I was diagnosed with CFS that seemed to disappear around the time my contraceptive implant wore off and I was pregnant with child number 4 infact being pregnant made me feel great and energised (bizarrely)
I’ve always suffered with headaches - I’m currently experiencing pain in my skin a numb part at the bottom of my right leg and my face can feel like it’s on fire and I can’t stop scratching the itch which then makes me feel like I’m allergic to myself … I can’t always make it to the toilet for a wee lately either
I haven’t even mentioned half of these symptoms for not wanting to sound like a crank to my gp-
My scan showed this
There are scattered bifrontal deep white matter FLAIR hyperintense foci including abutting the subcortical U fibre region with relative
sparing of the pericallosal region. The differential diagnosis of the aetiology of these lesions are wide-ranging and would include sequelae of chronic headaches and demyelination process within the limitation of no postcontrast imaging
Hope I don’t sound like too much of a crank to you guys - but does this sound like it could be ms ? I’m guessing I won’t know for a while and will have many more tests thank you in advance xx
The doctor-to-doctor language in the scan report means no more to me than to you, I’m afraid. It isn’t my specialist area either!
Of course you don’t sound like a crank, and do understand your hesitancy about giving the doctor your full list of what’s not working and when, but honestly the full list is what they need right now as they try to figure out what it the matter. They don’t think you’re a crank either, so don’t be embarrassed to give them chapter and verse. It’s a team effort and they need all the info you can give them.
Hi Lolly
Lesions, white matter, flair, demyelination - all the language of MS, unfortunately, but it sounds like you’ve got a GP with some experience of MS. Most don’t and so send you for the referral to a Neurologist who then orders the MRI, so in effect you are months ahead of most patients who have to endure the longer route.
Go back to your GP and ask if your Neuro referral be upgraded to urgent. Neuro will look at your MRI and probably order another, “with contrast” and possibly a lumbar puncture (LP, spinal tap) as well, to make diagnosis official. Only neurologists can officially make that call.
That’s good to know he did say he was sending me for mri to rule out ms with the falls but then when he rang about the results said we can’t rule it out yet - I’m expecting a co ready mri as there are a lot of can’t tell without it comments on the spine one - does it hurt the dye ?
In my experience, the injection for “with contrast” could give you a slight headache but it could also be a headache from the awful noise the MRI makes…
Your GP was probably being cagey - as said above, Neurologist has to give the official diagnosis.
I’ve not got a diagnosis however I recently was sent for an mri scan by my gp after increased falls and a history of headaches to rule out ms - - it hasn’t ruled out ms and I am awaiting a neurologist referral 