Posted 12/15/2019 4:54 AM (GMT 0)
Hi
(sorry for the long post)
First just want to say I'm 52 yrs old and have never had any symptoms of MS. This past October was diagnosed with MS based on an MRI (brain and cervical) showing lesions in my upper spinal cord and some lesions in my brain.
These lesions were discovered by accident -- I went to see my orthopedist due to a severe pain in my right shoulder. I've had a couple of shoulder surgeries in the past, tendon repairs, etc. Assumed was having the same problems based on the pain. Ortho said shoulder was fine and ordered a cervical MRI- the cervical MRI showed some lesions in the spinal cord worrisome for MS. Subsequent brain MRI was ordered which also showed signs of MS lesions. but again, I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY SYMPTOMS OF MS.
(Turns out the pain was due to Parsonage-turner syndrome, 2 different neurologists confirmed it.)
I had a Lumbar Puncture last week the results were normal- WBC normal (2), no Oli bands present, and no other indication of any other conditions/disease. Blood tests were all clear as well.
My question/concern is this really MS ? Could it be just an isolated incident ? Should I start the normal MS treatments ? i.e. Aubagio, Ocrevus, both of which have some major side effects don't want to take either.
Have seen 3 neurologists so far, none are "MS specialists" per se, one Dr told me I probably had these lesions for years, another told me he was surprised I could even walk. The funny thing is both Dr's scolded me for getting 2nd opinions, don't really care about that but thought it odd I would get a "finger wag" because I wanted more opinions, will keep getting more. I guess that's a good thing about the US Health Care system, ours may not be perfect, but I can see as many Dr's as I want without having to go through layers of bureaucracy. I can see whomever I want whenever I want; an entirely different discussion not really relevant to my post however.
I have an appointment with a MS specialist in a few weeks, but wanted to get some thoughts from any others in the group who may have had or know of similar experiences. Thanks for the reading.