Age at time of Dx?

[gmahoney]

i am having symptoms of MS. mri's and ct's have shown lesions somebody told me that lesions are just a normal part of aging. My neuro suspects MS. how old is too old for an ms dx?

[dm123]

My understanding is that there is no such thing as to old. I was past 60 and male wining on both odds. Lucky me!!

[jessiesmom]

Age at diagnosis

I was diagnosed with RRMS when I was 47. When I called my dad (who is an M.D.) to tell him he said, "Aren't you kind of old for that?" Gee thanks Dad. It is my understanding that a diagnosis at that age is a little unusual as it is at the end of the bell curve. That certainly does not mean that people aren't diagnosed with MS well after that. I think you will find MANY people on this message board that have been diagnosed in their 50s, 60s and even their 70s.

[0485c10]

if you scroll down this sight it shows the mri's from normal aging...

"normal" depends on the age of the patient.
white matter changes are classified according to Fazekas

Punctate WMLs: Fazekas I, classified as "Mild" & Confluent WMLs: Fazekas II, classified as "Moderate" in the deep white matter can be considered "normal" in aging.

Extensive confluent WMLs: Fazekas III, classified as "Severe" is never considered "normal" in aging.


"puncutate" means small. just dot size. "confluent" means the white dots have meshed together to form odd shapes at times.
"WML" means white matter lesions

& lesions in the back part of the brain are not typical of aging and usually caused by something else.

the mri being affected by age usually starts around 50. i was diagnosed at 41, told my MRI proved it was ms without a doubt--so i was very interested in this subject what if i had been diagnosed with ms incorrectly and it was all age instead Yikes!

so i found the sight which showed the difference in Fazekas for aging and then i also found what a "normal healthy aging brain MRI" looked like & began to think that my docs had not slept through their lectures about the mri when they were in med school.

http://www.radiologyassistant.nl/en/...p4594f74ccbf19

normal healthy brain aging....

http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB
/home.htm

But it does support what i always thought ms is really similar to aging, its aging on steroids.

[0485c10]

i think it matters when the onset symptom was. the people 40+ did not have the benefit of the mri for diagnosis when they had their onset symptom.

I have read that the l;argest growth in the ms population has been middle age woman who were not diagnosed whem ms first started because the technology to diagnose was not advanced enough. in the articl i read it said until the 40+ pluss group pass through we really will not know what is the true growth of ms. and ms is growing.

the median/average age of diagnosis when i was diagnosed was 20-40. i was 1 year outside the median/average age. since then the average age of ms diagnosis is 20-50.

its likely to go up still. we forget how much change we have lived through to get to today.

meds first came out in 1993. i dont think the mri was widely available in 1985 & they still needed to determine what mri image showed MS?

all that has been done in our time. we leave the world in a better place than we found it.

most are able to trace their symptoms to before they were diagnosed.

[jazzgirl]

I was diagnosed in 1979 when I was 22 years old. I had optic neuritis and some bladder difficulties. There was nothing for me at that time, so as a young, pretty and popular person I did what most stuck-up women did...I ignored it.

I didn't need to pay attention to it until almost 14 years later when I had a major exacerbation that landed me in the hospital for 8 days. I've now had it for almost 32 years.

Keep the faith! It will always suck (IMVHO), but I still know how to enjoy myself, even from a wheelchair.

[dm123]

jazzgirl,

you are still a pretty woman!!

[jazzgirl]

Well thank you, dm...but the picture that is my avatar is my daughter (and baby granddaughter ). I used to use another avatar with my picture at her wedding, but now that I have a few grandkids, I figured they could take the reigns from me. I feel badly that they didn't know me when I was younger....I was lots of fun, and all of my daughter's friends loved hanging at our house because I was young and "the cool mom".

This is a tough disease. Constantly a challenge, but if you try daily to keep at least a little of yourself alive then it doesn't win!!

[lusgirl]

I was 55 when I was first diagnosed. My neuro had a 2nd MRI done w/dye and it showed up. I also had a few "old" spots in another location. He said it is possible I had it when I was younger.

I started having symptoms about a year after my Mom died. Started with severe balance issues. My PCP thought BPPV but after a visit to ENT it was discovered that the problem was not in my ears. Was referred to the neuro, he suspected MS, went through the barrage of tests and then officially diagnosed by MS specialist.

I have been on Avonex since Sept 09 (need I say more?). It has been a ride! And now the fatigue, depression and tingling in leg and fingers...yuck!

[twodx]

AGE AT DIAGNOSIS

I WAS DIAGNOSED AT 63, I HAD OPTIC NEURITIS AT 40 WITHOUT A DIAGNOSIS, SAID IT WAS JUST A VIRUS BECAUSE NO LESION SEEN ON MRI, THAT WAS 1985, SO MAYBE MRI NOT SPECIFIC ENOUGH AT THAT TIME. HAD SYMPTOMS OVER THE YEARS I ATTRIBUTED TO CROHNS WHICH I HAVE HAD SINCE 20 YRS OLD. I ALSO HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT WHITE MATTER LESIONS. I WILL CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE. THANKS
I READ SOMEWHERE THAT LATE DX MS TENDS TO BE MORE PROGRESSIVE, I HOPE THAT IS WRONG. IT HAS CUT SHORT MY BUCKET LIST ALREADY. PLANNED TO TRAVEL IN RETIREMENT.

[Ga dancer]

I was 55 when officially diagnosed, but had symptoms that were attributed to various other causes long before then. In retrospect, especially bouts of fatigue which occur for periods of time and then slowly dissipate.

The MRI's worsened substantially and so did the symptoms over the next 5 years but now have been stabilized on Betaseron.

[twodx]

thank you

I appreciate your response. I guess from what I'm seeing, that everyone is so different, there is no comparison. Good to know that the treatment is working for you.

[andi b]

I was just diagnosed in August 2010 at age 59. My only symptom was optic neuritis. I had gone to the ophthalmologist because I thought I had a retinal tear because of the deficit in my visual field. It wasn't retinal tear, but he was definitely concerned and sent me for an MRI (he actually wanted to rule out a brain tumor, as I am a breast cancer survivor). On the MRI there were greater than 40 white matter lesions, but the ophthalmologist was "sure" it wasn't MS; my ON symptoms were not severe enough.

So I went to my PCP and because of the MRI results and a very strong history of MS in my family, she referred me to a neurologist specializing in MS. I had several more MRIs, a PFO test, carotid tests and a VEP, as well as about 25 different blood tests.

Unlike many on this board, I was diagnosed right at that time, mainly because of the locations and appearance of the lesions. So I am now on Avonex (since the end of October) and am doing fine. It is difficult to realize that I do have MS because of the lack of real symptoms other than the ON. (I do have other issues that COULD be related to MS, but do not really know if they are or if it is just life and older age causing them).

[twodx]

andi b re: age of dx

Yes, it IS difficult to accept dx with only one incident and seemingly minor. When my ON was dx, I believed that it was viral. My sight returned. They didn't look any further. In retrospect, I had episodes that could have been MS, but chose to believe it was other things and didn't report it, never went to neurologist again till 2010 when I was hospitalized with numbness of the lower half of my body. A lesion on my spine. I am on copaxone, recovering some feeling but not all. I don't know how they decide which drug is used over another. Thx for your reply.

[GayGay]

AGE?

M.S. doesnt care what age you are. I started having symptoms at 48 and got the DX at age 54. The problem is it takes soooooo long to get the DX and start receiving the proper meds.