Can you have MS without the MRI being positive?

[all2sweet]

Hi all,

I'm new to the MS forum although I feel like I know everyone already. I have some questions. I have had some "episodes" since I've been 21 years old dealing with weakness in my legs and much much more. I've been to several hospitals and even to Mayo Clinic to find out what is wrong. They have simply said that it's in my head. Seeing the signs of MS scares the heck out of me because everything lines up. I've had the slurred speech, periodic paralysis, headaches, eye problems, even simple things like exercise taxes all my energy reserves. It seems like I have two years on with the signs and then two years off. I've done everything I can think of to make things better and I've recently started experiencing it (all the signs) again. All the MRI's that I've had say that I don't have it. Is it possible to still have it though without it showing up? What has been your experiences with the illness and the history?

[gomer]

Depends............

Did they do BOTH spine and brain MRIs?

How about EVPs & Lumbar puncture?

Did you get a COMPLETE workup, including extensive blood work?

MS is hard to Dx, there are so many other things that can MIMIC MS.

Gomer Sir Falls-A-Lot

[all2sweet]

Results

They did just the brain MRI, no spinal tap and no spinal MRI as far as I know. As far as I know there was a complete workup with the blood...I had a lot of blood work. They did diagnose with me with restless legs syndrome. I had a low iron count...that's happened before also. I've had 3 EMG's. There was something abnormal for the first one, but not the second or third.

[Redwings]

Hi all2sweet:
Yes, you can have MS with a negative MRI. However, because the disease is named after the hallmark finding of multiple scleroses, and because the McDonald Diagnostic Criteria rely heavily on positive MRI findings, you can't be diagnosed with MS or treated for MS with a negative MRI unless you demonstrate other positive findings that are consistent with MS (LP, evoked potentials, signs/symptoms) over an extended period of time, and in the absence of any other condition that might cause the same signs/symptoms.

A single brain MRI isn't enough to rule out MS, nor is "a lot of bloodwork" enough if the right things weren't tested for. I find it hard to believe that the Mayo Clinic would have relied on a single brain MRI to evaluate for MS, so I'm guessing there's more going on than you told us about, for sake of brevity.

There are no symptoms that are unique to MS, so having some of the symptoms that people with MS have doesn't mean you have MS. Conversely, a clean brain MRI doesn't mean that you don't. The diagnosis of MS is more complicated than that, and it may just take time for whatever condition you have to reveal enough of itself that a diagnosis can be made.