question about lesions - Multiple Sclerosis Message Board

younggranny · 02-26-2009, 07:37 PM

this is all pretty new to me..My sister woke up a couple of weeks ago pretty dizzy but didn't think too much of it, then a week later she wakes up and her body is all tingling and feels sorta numb. Then it would go from feeling like pins and needles to like bugs were crawling on her, then real itchy. Her upper arm started hurting so bad she could hardly lift a pen..She went to the doctors and they did an mri. It showed one lesion. The doctor thinks it could be MS so he is sending her to a neurologist for quite a few test. Since the mri showed a lesion does that pretty much mean she has MS or could it be something less serious..Do these symptoms sound like MS Thanks for listening

Carol72 · 02-26-2009, 07:59 PM

MS is a disease that is diagnosed by time and space. Meaning, you usually need to have multiple lesions or lesions in different parts of your spine or brain to get a diagnosis. Or, you need to have at least 2 distinct clinical episodes with symptoms lasting more than 24 hours.

Do you know where the one lesion was found? It's good that she going through more MRIs to help determine a definitive diagnosis. She should be having blood tests and differentials ran in order to rule out other diseases or infections. It's hard to tell by listening to symptoms if it is MS....MS symptoms are known for mimicking many other diseases and infections.

younggranny · 02-26-2009, 08:38 PM

She only had one lesion and it was found on her brain...She has been having this tingling, numbness,itchy feeling for about 1 week..She is also wondering about lymes disease, but doctor never said anything about that.

MSNik · 02-26-2009, 08:41 PM

Carol is right about what she wrote, one lesion means very little. You can have lesions from migrane headaches! They dont necessarily mean a thing....she needs to continue with a Neuro- ruling out every single possiblity and wait and see what happens...nothing to panic about. I have over 50 lesions- work full time, take care of 3 kids- and a needy husband...MS means very little in the grand scheme of things- its just an adventure!
Nikki

MSJayhawk · 02-26-2009, 09:36 PM

The lesion may have been located, but there could be other locations. Where did the MRI scan? It is a process. She will need much moral support through the long process.