This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Hello all,
I just wanted to share my story and see if anyone had any insight. I'm sure you're all very familiar with this feeling of being in limbo and not knowing if I should just leave it alone or try to investigate it further. Long story short, my primary care dr ordered an MRI (completed last week) and set up an appt with a neurologist.
The radiologist that read the MRI stated "single punctate focus of t2 hyperintensity on left posterior sub cortical white matter". Now, I'm not going to pretend to be a dr that can interpret the MRI lol but after talking with someone who has been diagnosed with MS for years and doing my own research through reputable sources-this basically means a small lesion in that area.
I see the neurologist today and she did the whole neuro exam in less than 2 minutes. Very hurried. Interrupted when I tried to answer her questions. And then she pulled up the MRI and said she sees nothing on it. I told her what the radiologist saw and why there could be a discrepancy. And she basically said that the radiologists have better images and a larger screen. So I then asked "should I be concerned that the radiologist, with a better picture, saw a lesion?" But she essentially blew me off.
When the neuro was going over what she typically sees with patients with MS-the way she described it is the way the radiologist described what he saw on my MRI.
Now, I know the lesion reported by the radiologist is small, so that makes me feel better. But the neuro not answering any questions just makes me feel still in limbo. I've talked to my PRomary dr since the appt this morning and told trem about the Neuro appt. they said, given the results of my MRI and my symptoms they'd like a second opinion,at be even an MRI including the spinal cord.
I'm exhausted with doctors and tests lol
Any insight? Anyone have something similar happen? Thank y'all in advance

Kmardis wrote:I'm exhausted with doctors and tests lol
Any insight?

Welcome to ThisIsMS,Kmardis.

I have no medical background. Here is my opinion/suggestion:

Compose a list of ALL your symptoms.
See your primary care physician; discuss your list with him and request a few more tests: #1 a serum B12 test, #2 RBC folate test, #3 serum homocysteine test, #4 a methylmalonic acid test, and #5 a vitamin D3 test (a.k.a. 25hydroxyD). Deficiencies of vitamin B12 and of vitamin D3 are VERY common and can cause neurological symptoms, including lesions in the brain.
Request your own copy of any test results – you need the actual numbers.
Share with us how it goes.

Thank you so much for taking time to respond. I can't say for certain all of those tests have been done because I wasn't familiar with some of those names. But I do know they ran a ridiculous amount of bloodwork because they wanted to exclude a lot issues and autoimmune disorders. I know my b12 was normal and all my vitamins.

You need to see a neurologist that specializes in MS.

My first neurologist was certain I did not have MS. A specialist viewed the same MRI and was able to make the correct diagnosis.

Also, be sure to have a MRI of your spine too.

Hi Kmardis,
There are several reasons why one might have lesions on an MRI. MS is just one of those reasons. Migraines and B12 deficiency are two others and there are more. MS is a diagnosis of exclusion. The other conditions which have similar symptoms will need to be excluded through testing before a MS diagnosis can be considered.