I was raised a Navy brat and after having suffered at the hands of military dentists I can fully understand your fear.

As I tell loads of folks breathe! just breathe! MS is a process and almost never a quick "oh hey look at that!" style diagnosis. It take time, tests and patience to get there. There are more than 100 diseases that can mimic MS including the brain lesions. From dehydration, to vitamin def, to lyme, lupus, sjoghrens, RA, Devics, and so forth. Lets say you sit in front of your MD with your current symptoms and say "tell me whats wrong!" he sees that he has a dish of 100 or more items to pick from. Lets start doing the easy stuff. Lyme shows up (most times) on a standard test. Lupus has certaine markers. Vitamin stuff is quick to see. Sjoghrens has dry eyes, and a dry mouth and needs a lip biopsy. so, as he starts to DIS prove things, he will find he is only left with 10 or so in the bowl. That last ten are so similar to each other, and dont have a definitive test that says "its MS" or "its Devics" so they take the "most likely" culprit and slap that label on you.

It takes several MRI studies, not just one. It takes normally a spinal tap which show Obands (normally only show up IN a flare) and neuro tests like a positive Babinsky reflex or stuttering eyes when you look to one direction or the other (this shows damage to the optic nerve) and so on.

So, while its a scary time, and you simply want your old life back, hang on. take a breath. Deal with the knowns versus the unknowns. Keep a journal. take copious notes! keep a symptom journal and keep track of what makes it better or worse.

Come back here and pick our brains. We are good at this.