Is your brain the only thing they are going to MRI? I went in with what I thought were back and neck problems, and got a lumbar and cervical MRI. If I hadn't gotten the cervical MRI I would not have started down this path with the neurologist. The lumbar was normal, the cervical had 2 lesions. The followup brain MRI was normal. Turns out it wasn't disk problems at all.

I'm not sure what ordinary procedures are, but if I had just had a brain MRI they would have found nothing. This obviously isn't the case for you, but something to keep in mind is that if it is MS you may have lesions in places other than the brain too.

I will echo what Sally said, if this is MS and they caught it early that is a good thing even if it is shocking. I've been dealing with weird symptoms for a long time but had no idea what has been wrong with me. If my diagnosis is MS, it is about a decade later than it ought to have been.

I'm about a month and a half since the back problems now. So far for me the process has been:

1. Lumbar and cervical MRI without contrast (at the ortho)
2. cervical MRI with contrast, brain MRI with and without contrast (at the ortho)
3. Blood work (first step with the neuro)
4. Spinal tap next week since blood was mostly normal

From what I've been reading, everyone's diagnosis path is a little different. With problems on the MRI, they should take your diagnosis seriously at least.