Unsure of diagnosis

Hi all, I am a 22-year old female, and about six months ago I had a migraine (not unusual), and then I felt a numb sensation in my feet that spread up to just below my ribs (the sensation moved slowly over about a week and then cleared completely). The sensation actually felt like the usual feeling I get in my hand when I have a migraine but that only passes briefly (half an hour max.). I had no other symptoms at all.

Long story short, I visited my GP (thought it was migraine-related but referred to neuro anyway, just in case), went to the neuro who sent me for an MRI, eventually had an MRI and then was referred to another neuro who showed me my MRI and because there were several lesions on my brain scan and one on my neck he said he was pretty sure it was MS, and he sent me on my way with literature about medication and told me to think about starting some. I then had a call from an MS nurse last week asking me about which medication I wanted to start taking and when I wanted to go in.

I think it was the call from the nurse that has frustrated me the most because I’m not convinced that I actually do have MS. I have done a lot of research and I know that you need to have two separate incidents for an offical diagnosis, which I haven’t had (I’ve been completely fine before and since). I have also read a lot of people’s stories and experiences of MS and none of them sound like what I have experienced (I know that it is completely different for everyone). The neuro who ‘diagnosed’ me only asked if I had diabetes in way of background checks before he said it was likely to be MS, and I failed to mention that I have suffered from migraines since I was 15 (I know that migraines can cause brain lesions too) because I tend to forget about them if I’m not having one and I only have them every few months or so. I know that there was a lesion in my neck too but I actually had a neck injury about a year ago and had symptoms from that then which could explain this lesion (I’ve read that neck lesions are more likely to affect the upper body which was affected post-injury, whereas this incident affected my legs only), and so now I question whether or not it is actually MS, or whether it was migraine-related. I’d be very interested to hear any thoughts on this :slight_smile:

Hi it does all seem very quick indeed. I have had issues and 4 MRIs and 2 lumber puncture later I still have no anwsers. I am 49 and it seems the older we get the longer limboland is. To get a dx of MS you dont need two obvious episodes but you do in order to qualify for DMDs (disease modifying drugs). They can usual tell from scans whether or not lesions have appeared at different times. If they look as if they have arrived at the same time then you would get a dx of clinically isolated syndrome. You could ask for a lumbar puncture and if that was negative maybe they would look deeper into other causes. Migraines can cause lesions on the brain but I doubt they would cause them on the spinal cord.

Moyna xxx