Two MRIs with lesions, neck scan, bloods..obsessing over MS.

[Dessy]

Hello,

I have horrific health anxiety and I am currently in CBT for it but not on meds as they give me anxiety. About a year and a half ago I had an MRI brain scan as I get migraines often. MS wasn't even in my train of thought. I didn't think twice about results. The report showed many white matter lesions and I was sent to a neurologist. She said they could have been from heavy drug use (which I have not done), scarring from severe migraines or a very rare disease called Cadasil which I am on the waiting list to get tested for. But she said the lesions do not look like MS lesions. This is when my health anxiety all started...

I had another brain MRI 6 months later and it was exactly the same. Neurologist still couldn't give me clear answers and still didn't think I had MS. However, I have had all of the MS symptoms pins and needles, tingling, pain, eye pain, eye blurriness, itchiness, fatigue, dizziness, off balance, speech slurring etc you name it. I do have constant anxiety and get panic attacks nearly every day by the way.

I went to my GP and told him about the tingling as it was bothering me so I was sent for a neck MRI to check for a trapped nerve and it came back all clear with no lesions or trapped nerve. My bloods are all perfectly normal.

I saw the neurologist again the other day and told her about my worries and she says I don't have MS and she thinks I may have Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and severe anxiety.

I am just concerned that maybe the lesions that showed up in both my MRIs a year ago are MS lesions or MS lesions have formed on my brain since then. I have also read on MS forums how so many people who have MS have been misdiagnosed a few times previously which does not help at all. I cannot eat or sleep. All I can think about is MS. I am obsessing over this day and night and driving my family, friends and partner crazy. I am losing out on living. Some words of comfort or any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[zippy]

I am similar to you as in i had an mri 2 years ago after having bad vertigo and headaches and about 3 lesions were found. I then saw a neuro who sent me for a lumbar puncture and an evoke potential test to test for ms and both were normal and ok. I saw him again and he just said he couldn't diagnose ms and left me on his files for the future if i ever needed to see him again. I am like you i have loads of symptoms and worry all the time that it's ms.

[countrygirl]

Snap, I had brain mri 14 years ago that showed white matter lesions in a part of my brain that you don't get them if its ms but at that time they didn't know that and I was told that I might develop ms. Repeat scans every 2 years showed no change whatsoever and then suddenly as advances were made interpreting scans i was told that masses of people have these lesions and it means nothing. Even amalgam tooth fillings can cause them amongst many other things. I was told almost everyeone on post mortum exams has them in their brain and they did not have any neuro disease at the time of death. I was told to forget about them as they mean nothing.

[pj67]

Hi. I have a friend who had a brain MRI which showed white lesions but they were not particularly consistent with ms. She really worried about this for years but nothing happened. The radiologists and neurologists tend to know what an ms pattern looks like and the problem with mri's is that there are things that can show up that May have been there since birth but we just don't know an they can create anxiety.

[Biscuitmuncher]

I am kinda going through the same thing. I have a lot of MS-type sensory symptoms and was told initially it is fibromyalgia but when I developed double vision, I had a brain and spine MRI and it has shown numerous high signal areas all throughout my brain. I have just had a lumbar puncture and visual evoked potential tests done but results are not back yet. I am waiting for an appointment to see the neurologist to discuss it all. It is really stressing me out and am going through quite a bad time at the moment with all the waiting It is the not knowing that is the hardest to cope with. I just wish I knew what is going on and if it is not MS, what the hell is it??? and am I likely to ever get better? I feel that my life is on hold at the moment, I had to give up work as I am so ill with the fatigue, etc