This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Would a cat scan show anything? I have been having some strange symptoms over the last 3 years. main being dizziness/light headed, fainting, poor short term memory, slurred speech, and strange feelings in my legs, muscle weakness, fevers, tiredness, and a strange rash on my hands and heel. The dizziness/light headed feeling is constant, all the time, never have a break from it. Its so bad I am not able to work full time anymore. I have had blood work done, saw an ENT, had my heart checked everything was normal. The only test that wasn't was when my doctor did the test where I walk a straight line, follow his finger, and all those other ones, I failed. He sent me for a CT scan with out contrast and it came back normal. Would a CT scan show anything abnormal like MS leasions? I am very worried about this. With the symptoms I have, I am not able to live everyday life like I used to. Even going out to the store to get food is a hard. I can't even drive anymore. There are so many symptoms I could list so I just listed the main ones. If anyone can give me some advice I would love to hear from you.
Thanks everyone.
Dizzy girl

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DizzyGirl

I tend to be conservative with CT scans. If offered a choice between an MRI and a CT scan, I will choose the MRI unless a CT scan is absolutely necessary. There is a risk from the radiation levels which are much higher than those associated with standard x-rays. Dr. Sclafani has discussed the differences in radiation between CT scans and x-rays. post113211.html#p113211 For example, a CT scan of the chest is about 8 mSy which is the equivalent to about 272 standard chest x-rays. This is considerably more than a lifetime's worth of x-rays just in one scan. Moreover, I am not familiar with the use of CT scans to check for MS lesions. A 3 Tesla MRI should be fine and there's no ionizing radiation risk.

NHE

I've been reading into this a bit, because I've got some similar things going on, and I've had a ct as well, they said it was normal, but came to find out I've got two filling defects, may not be anything, but didn't know about it until I got my records. Anyway, from what I've been reading, a ct is a much less reliable test then an MRI when it comes to ms, so if your symptoms are still bad, I'd talk to your doctor and see if they would want to do one, if not, maybe see if you can see a different doctor and see what they say. Either way, I'd get the records from your scan so you have a copy of what they said to take to a different doctor. My doctor knows about my ct from a hospital, and still wants an MRI.