Hi coffeegirl,
It took three years for me to get a DX and I had symptoms the PCP and Neuro could see. It was not the "Classic presentation" of MS and No MRI's back then.

They tried many meds, then I was in the hospital for a week. They said you have MS. Maybe had it since 16 years old they said, but I am not counting that time. Just the three years or testing, testing, testing.

I think when I had flares in areas show up in so many different places, that correlated to my brain ( with my symptoms) it fit the "time and space" criteria to get a dx. All of this I never knew at the time. I didn't even know what MS was.