sylvie74 said...
I had an MRI in September, and my neuro told me it was probably not MS, as "there were no spots or dots" on it. Well, I had an episode Monday night, where the entire left side of my body (from foot to scalp) went numb. I was buzzing, too.. I called the Neuro, and at first she suspected stroke, but as I was in the ER waiting, the sensation traveled just slightly over to the right side- ruling that out. Because of that, they did not do any significant testing on me- just some blood work. Could only tell me I'm anemic- but the ER doc did say he really felt it was MS. (I did mention I'm in the process of finding out whether or not I have chronic Lyme, just to cover my bases. He felt that was a good idea).
Well, after following up with the Neuro's office, they want to do another MRI- because (as the nurse practitioner admitted) there was some kind of "artifact" found between the c3 & c4 in my cervical spine, but that at the time they assumed it was nothing. Um, 
(My research leads me to believe that an artifact could just be something weird on the film, and not on/in my body).
I am curious to know if any of you have been told you previously had an "artifact" on your MRI, only later to learn you have actual lesions.. and then were later diagnosed with MS? Or have you had this similar type of experience, at least.. in terms of your MRI? What did you find out the artifact actually was?
MRI's are challenging. Think of them this way: they're like a photograph of your insides. And like any photograph, it's only as good as the photographer, the camera, and the film. And yet another variable with MRI's -- two highly trained, highly skilled doctors can look at the SAME MRI and "see" different things. One doctor's "artifact" can be another doctor's "lesion".
Combine that with the problem of diagnosing MS: there is no, one, definitive test to diagnose MS, but rather a whole series of things that have to be *excluded* before settling on that diagnosis.
Put those two things together and you get a lot of uncertainty..unless and until there are enough solid signs -- things the doctor can see, test for, things that can be repeated in his office through testing, tests that come back "positive" (and not just stuff the patient reports, no matter how valid that seems to the patient) -- they won't diagnose MS. Over time, sometimes, things start to appear consistently enough that doctors will commit to a diagnosis. In the meantime, patients go a little bit crazy with the uncertainty.
It is probably a good thing to go ahead and get the new MRI. New "artifacts" might appear -- and if they're in the "right place for MS", then they become clearly lesions. Or the "artifact" that was there last time might not be there any more at all, only adding to the confusion. But given your episode in the ER, all the evidence needs to be collected and hopefully over time an answer will be found.