Again, thank you for making something that is very hard to explain, so simple to understand.

In my first posting of this thread, I was really excited to read what you had written because we’ve been talking about a lot of this on the forum lately, and so much of what you said is what I have understood to be as well. I was actually kinda’ sad when I realized this was “just” a patient’s account, even if it did seem like a MS/medically-educated one.

Either way, I think we’ve all run into lots of doctors, even neuro’s, that have different understandings of the disease, so I posted again on this thread to forewarn people that this information was just “another” interpretation (educated or not) that was important for consideration.

I haven’t really spent a lot of time trying to understand the “scientific” aspects of this disease, to be honest . . . but I still have lots of questions. I am particularly perplexed by the lack of lesion evidence in a MRI, especially when it is often very obvious that the disease is wreaking havoc in our bodies. I appreciate there are no concrete answers out there as yet, but I hope you will humor me with some non-medically-trained brain-storming on the theories.

I am always interested in understanding all that I can about this disease, and hope that I don’t wear you out, especially when you are not feeling well. Please feel free to abbreviate your answers, and/or break up your posts if this is your preference. That’s what I'm going to do, which will hopefully make me seem not so demanding , and so that they are not so daunting to answer.



I think you are right. Many people simply regard lesions as the white spots (or black holes) that ‘sometimes’ show up on our MRI’s. In early MS, this is often our only objective evidence of the disease, and there evidence is interpreted as a visual measurement of disease “activity”. Our neuro’s often perpetuate this by identifying when there are more (or less) lesions, hence more (or less) “disease activity”. Relapses are often tied to this visible inflammatory activity as well, although there is plenty of evidence that we can be in a relapse without MRI enhancing lesions apparent, and vice-versa.

I appreciate that many people will unfortunately go without a dx for several years due to a lack of this MRI evidence too . . . but unless we are very well educated on symptoms and testing options, and we have access to the best MRI technology, etc., chances are we are not going to get past some arrogant neurologist who CURRENTLY has his mind made up that we are just neurotic. In fact, standing our ground may only “label” us . . . so I think the best advice you gave, in this regard, is to be re-evaluated, especially if additional & difficult symptoms occur in the future.

Other helpful tips may include, getting a second opinion ... maintaining a diary with dates of symptoms (start/finish) ... but MOSTLY for patients to appreciate that TIME will usually unveil the truth anyway.

http://www.naturalnews.com/019977.html

I'll be back . . . Cherie