Patricia,

Most neuro's follow the McDonald Criteria when diagnosing MS.
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Research-2005Nov10.asp

MS is a disease of the CNS which includes the brain, spine and optic nerve, lesions can show up in any or all of those areas.

If your doctor is looking for MS he/she should do a MRI with/without contrast of the brain and cervical spine. For some reason some doctors think that just doing a MRI of the brain is sufficiant....it's not.

MS can be difficult to diagnose. There is not one *single* test that can give you a diagnosis....it's about ruling out those things that can mimic MS before ruling in MS.

If you have an exacerbation/relapse/attack/flare-up you can use steroids however, many relapses will resolve themselves without the help of roids - the most common form of MS is relapsing/remitting.

Unfortunately, sometimes it's a matter of going with the flow and riding an exacerbation out.

There are Disease Modifying Drugs (Avonex, Rebif, Copaxone, Betaseron) to HOPEFULLY slow the disease down but they don't always work for some.