Diagnosing MS
There is no one diagnostic test that can tell your doctor whether you do or do not have MS. The symptoms can be vague and seem like everyday ailments at first, and most can belong to several different diseases. In the past this meant that many people lived through a long period of uncertainty before MS was diagnosed. In the last 10 years or so MRI scans have become widespread and have speeded up diagnosis. However, for most people there is still a considerable time lag between the appearance of symptoms and a diagnosis.
During this time you may feel you are being labelled as neurotic or a hypochondriac, or wonder if you are going mad and your symptoms are really all in the mind. Or you may worry that you have a brain tumour or some other terrible disease that the doctor does not want to tell you about. Sometimes the diagnosis of MS comes as a relief – confirmation that there really is something wrong and an end to the speculation about what it might be.
Your GP will usually refer you to a specialist neurologist to make or confirm the diagnosis of MS. Because its symptoms are non-specific, MS is not usually diagnosed until a person has had a minimum of two episodes, each lasting 24 hours or more, involving at least two different areas of the central nervous system at different times. The episodes must be at least a month apart.