A combination of tests is used to diagnose MS. The best test is an MRI of your brain and spinal cord to detect areas of damage. You might also need to have blood tests, a lumbar puncture and tests to measure nerve activity. It can be hard to reach a diagnosis because there is no single test for MS.
Blood Tests: Currently, there are no definitive blood tests for diagnosing MS, but they can be used to rule out other conditions that may mimic MS symptoms, including Lyme disease, collagen-vascular diseases, rare hereditary disorders and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Learn more about using MRI to diagnose MS. Lumbar puncture: This test, which you may also hear called a spinal tap, checks the fluid that runs through your spinal column. Doctors use it to look for high levels of proteins and other substances that are signs of the disease.
It's most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s, 30s and 40s although it can develop at any age. It's about 2 to 3 times more common in women than men. MS is one of the most common causes of disability in younger adults.
What Does MS Feels Like? A lack of feeling or a pins-and-needles sensation can be the first sign of nerve damage from MS. It usually happens in your face, arms, or legs, and on one side of your body. It tends to go away on its own.
Your doctor will refer you to a neurologist. They will examine you to check how different parts of your nervous system are working. A combination of tests is used to diagnose MS. The best test is an MRI of your brain and spinal cord to detect areas of damage.
These include fibromyalgia and vitamin B12 deficiency, muscular dystrophy (MD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), migraine, hypo-thyroidism, hypertension, Beçhets, Arnold-Chiari deformity, and mitochondrial disorders, although your neurologist can usually rule them out quite easily.
Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease that can mimic some of the symptoms of MS such as fatigue and joint pain.
There are no specific tests for MS . Instead, a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis often relies on ruling out other conditions that might produce similar signs and symptoms, known as a differential diagnosis. Your doctor is likely to start with a thorough medical history and examination.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by your immune system mistakenly attacking the brain and nerves. It's not clear why this happens but it may be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Difficulty thinking. Fatigue. Pain, which may be acute or chronic, caused by the nerves that carry sensation "short circuiting." Types of pain can include band-like pain around the chest, or MS hug, caused by spastic nerves along with other types of painful sensations in the neck, arms, legs and feet. Sexual problems.
MRI shows brain abnormalities in 90-95% of MS patients and spinal cord lesions in up to 75%, especially in elderly patients.
An MRI scan can detect MS activity early on , sometimes before an individual experiences any worsening symptoms.
Some conditions that doctors may commonly misdiagnose as MS include migraine, RIS, spondylopathy, and neuropathy. To accurately diagnose MS, doctors must rule out conditions with similar symptoms and look for signs and symptoms specific to MS. As such, the process of diagnosing MS may be lengthy and complex.
An MRI scanner uses a strong magnetic field to create a detailed image of inside your brain and spinal cord. It's very accurate and can pinpoint the exact location and size of any inflammation, damage or scarring (lesions). MRI scans confirm a diagnosis in over 90 per cent of people with MS.
MS can be present even with a normal MRI and spinal fluid test although it's uncommon to have a completely normal MRI. Sometimes the MRI of the brain may be normal, but the MRI of the spinal cord may be abnormal and consistent with MS, so this also needs to be considered.
It is also known as neuromyelitis optica (NMO) or Devic's disease. Some of its symptoms are similar to the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, so it may be misdiagnosed as such.
Can I have multiple sclerosis for years and not know it? Yes. MS can go undetected for years. Research has suggested that many patients experience MS-related symptoms and signs several years before receiving a definite diagnosis of the disease.
The GP can't make a diagnosis of MS, but can assess your symptoms and rule out alternative conditions that could be causing your symptoms.
People may ignore early symptoms that come and go. While no single laboratory test is yet available to prove or rule out MS, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and spinal fluid analysis greatly help in reaching a definitive diagnosis. Learn more about how MS is diagnosed.
The symptoms can be similar, but people with fibromyalgia are more likely to experience depression, irritable bowel syndrome, and widespread, persistent pain. Symptoms more common with MS include weakness, vision problems, muscle spasms, and bowel or bladder issues.
Background. The Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score (MSSS), combining the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and disease duration, attempts to stratify multiple sclerosis (MS) patients based on their rate of progression. Its prognostic ability in the individual patient remains unproven.
A person who has experienced at least two clinical attacks, and has clear-cut evidence of damage in at least two distinct brain areas, can be definitively diagnosed with MS, as that individual fulfills requirements for both dissemination in space and time.