Well, I think it's mostly to do with my numb hands and feet, as well as the sensation changes (much stronger sensation of numbness, vertigo, etc. that are associated with certain "positions").

She has been calling that a "like-l'hirmettes" symptom, which I guess could be true whether the l'hirmette's is caused by MS, spinal cord compression, or whatever. She's been blaming the MS though, yet we are aware that I had several bulging discs on my last spinal MRI, 6 yrs ago. I think she just wants to see if anything can be figured out by using gad to differentiate between MS and any other spinal cord issues.

The other thing is that I have large spinal cord lesions, which MAY indicate NMO/Devics, vs MS. When they did the MRI in 2003, I didn't have gad, but they were really focusing their attention on the spinal cord anyway (which doesn't require gad if the spinal lesions are big enough). I got the dx based on my large spinal cord lesions, which were obvious and correlated directly with my symptoms/history.

There were only the few brain lesions, even that far into the disease process (12+ yrs), so at that point they considered Devic's anyway. However, it didn't matter much then, because NMO/Devic's were just considered "bad MS". Since then they've determined that it is actually a different disease process which requires different treatments (immunosuppressants vs. immuno-modulatory drugs).

I don't take any of the meds anyway, so unless they had to react without my consent one day, I would just carry on as I have been doing. Perhaps she wants to know though, in case Rituximab or something else might be advisable in an emergency.

As far as gad in the brain, I am (ALMOST!) 50 now, so maybe there could be various other reasons for lesions there (aging, stroke, etc.). Perhaps she is hoping that gad might give them a bit more information in that regard.

On the other hand, it could be that she is just following her usual protocol . . . and I WILL ask her to explain her reasoning before I use the gad. I have SUCH difficulty with procedures, treatments, drugs . . . she seemed very dubious about the idea anyway.

Thanks for the well wishes for my daughter. That WAS scary, but to be honest I was most interested in trying to rule out other potentially worse options ...

Cherie