Waiting for diagnosis

New diagnosis and before diagnosis
1

My name is Andrew, I’m now 21 and I’ve been dealing with the possibility of having MS for the last 7 months or so. I suffered optic neuritis a couple of years ago and have had numbness around my body on and off for a few years and various other symptoms. With the numbness getting worse this year, I had my blood checked and the results came back normal.

I was then sent to a neurologist and have had an MRI scan. The results have come back with inflammation in my brain and legions in my cervical cord, with a conclusion that the scan images are in line with a diagnosis of MS.

I got those results a few weeks ago, but have got to wait until December to see a neurologist again, for what I presume is further tests or a diagnosis.

I’m now stuck with it being highly likely that I have MS, but no definitive diagnosis. I am in the final year of my university course, and am struggling with the stress of not knowing, and have been put on anxiety medication. I was wondering if anyone on here has had similar waits and has advice on how to deal with such workloads along with the waiting.

Thanks

2

Hi Andrew,

Yep, the waiting game is certainly an anxious time, look around this forum and you’ll see plenty of evidence of that. Only a very few of us got a quick diagnosis, whether it turned out to be MS or some other neurological condition. It’s a notoriously slow business.

I wish I had an easy answer for you, but I don’t, somehow you’ve got to push the anxious thoughts to one side and keep focused on your course work - you’ve done more than two years serious study which you really don’t want to throw away. The course of MS is not usually rapid, mine’s been very slow and intermittent. Your symptoms, MS or not, don’t sound to have been progressing too quickly, so try to put the worry on hold. You’ll never regret working for your degree.

Good luck.

Ben