Is this MS?

Hi everyone,

Like yourself I am new to this site.

Apologies in advance I am dyspraxic so my mail may have mistakes etc in it.

I am concerned about MS as I have positive CSF bands from my lumber puncture. Presently I have swelling on my right side of the Trigeminal Nerve and I experience pins and needles feeling in my feet and in the morning my hands. I wake with a numb right hand every morning. I experience weakness and heaviness in my legs, on and off. At times I have fallen as my legs have given way.

I find it hard to concentrate and there are days were I experience extreme tiredness, so can not get out of bed. Externally I have my hair falling out.

I have referred from the facial pain clinic in London to a specialist who deals with inflammation issues.

What type of specialist confirms MS diagnosis?

Does any of the above sound familiar??

It’s a neurologist that will decide what your diagnosis is, if there is a diagnosis to make of course!! Who referred you for the lumbar puncture? Maybe the inflammation specialist will refer you for an mri. I think it’s fairly unusual if MS is suspected to be sent for a lumbar as a first port of call. Usually the MRI is the first test done and is the most revealing of all the diagnostic tests with regards to MS.

I should probably be clearer. When I say it’s a neurologist that decides on your diagnosis, I mean if your problem is believed to be a neurological one then it will be neurologist that deals with it. There is often a crossover in specialities so they may decide your symptoms are best dealt with by a different kind of specialist.

Hello

I’d like to second what Cherry Tree has said, you need a neurologist to diagnose MS.

I’m initially surprised that you’ve had a lumbar puncture but not an MRI too. However, on thinking about it, a lumbar puncture is used to diagnose other disorders apart from MS, so describing your LP as ‘positive’ doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s positive for MS. And the fact that you’ve been referred to an inflammation specialist rather than a neurologist might mean that you’re being tested for something apart from MS. For example, infections, inflammatory disorders, meningitis, or Guillain-Barré syndrome.

So, although you’ve got symptoms that could be caused by MS, they could also be caused by Guillain-Barré or one of many other diseases or disorders. The problem is that there are so many symptoms associated with MS, you could have one of many other diagnoses and convince yourself it’s MS.

I suggest you talk to your GP, or to the inflammation specialist (depending on when you get to see him/her) to discuss the findings from your lumbar puncture, and what it is the doctors are looking for. And if the GP thinks it’s appropriate, get a referral to a neurologist.

Sue