This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Hi everyone
Hope everyone is doing well.
I have had two Doctors tell Me I have Ms one is a family Doctor that did the original Mri of My brain and found white matter or lesions right in the area that is common for Ms and the other Doc is a optical neurologist and He says the same as family Doc but did tests on My eyes and said it has not affected My vision yet but My Mri looks like Ms.Then the neurologist Did look at mri and did more tests like Mri of My spine and neck,Evoked potential testing,Blood work up and says no lesions on back and neck blood is all negative for lyme etc,etc But my white blood count high,I passed the Evoked potential testing and now He wants to do a spinal tap.Question is has anyone here been diagnosed with a spinal tap.I am worried about this test and do not want to do it if it's not going to help me.Please tell Me Your story's on this matter.Anyway now I have the shakes that are soooo terriable that I cannot hold things.I didn't bother to tell the Nero this but I am thinking of calling Him Monday because it seems to have gotten even worse.I am afraid of a stroke or seizure is coming on but never have had these before,I am scarred and worried. Thanks alot all You all are very wonderful people that I trust talking too
Tami

Hi Tami
a spinal tap is used to diagnose MS alright. I had one done (two actually, the first one didn't yield enough spinal fluid to be useful) and it's standard practice after an MRI. It doesn't help you exactly - it just shows up whether you have oligoclonal bands in your spinal fluid, which is a sign of MS.
Tami I hope you're feeling better soon - the whole testing and diagnosis is a very stressful time for anyone.

hi tami, welcome to TIMS, it's never under happy circumstances :S butat least you found us.
yes the mri is yet another step in the usual process.
oligoclonal banding indicates long term infection.
if you do go through with the test, make sure you stay lying down for a couple hours after, to help avoid the possibility of post lumbar puncture headache. my doc told me half an hour, but not why, and i struggled around with a ferocious migraine for days before they told me.
they said if it didn't go away they would do a blood patch to try and heal the hole in my spinal cord.
i put myself on bed rest for the weekend and got better.
different places recommend different down times after an LP procedure, but just so you know, 30 minutes isn't necessarily good enough.

i'm the nutrition nut here on TIMS, and i went searching for which deficiencies might cause elevated white blood cells. the answer came back zinc. it just won't go away zinc is the answer to half the questions on this forum it seems, it's just crazy.
there are a few usual suspect nutrients in MS which you may want to add to the initial battery of tests.
they are probably already looking at your b12. if not they should have.
also vitamin d3 is potentially a problem, and actually zinc is a known one too - which also affects optic neuritis by the way, and also your uric acid level (also low in ms).

hope something in there is useful to you - keep your chin up!