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.

Thanks for the support! Luckily I'm a very pragmatic person, so I'm not freaking out or anything (yet), but I compensate by collecting as much information as possible so I can be prepared to whatever heads my way.

Dejibo - My research MRI was done in a closed machine that is only 6 months old. The description says that it is 3T, but I don't know if means tesla or something else. My referral was actually to an MS center - bonus of being at a large research university! It is actually two buildings over from my campus office, so that is convenient at least. They were sent the images today and I was told that I will get a call to schedule in the next week or two after somebody takes a look.

Yeti - The brain MRI with and without contrast was the only thing that was recommended by the guy who looked at it before, although my PCP said that they might do one that focuses on the brain stem or spine. So who knows at this point. They can take my blood and stick me in a giant magnet as much as they want, but I'm uninterested in a spinal tap haha.

This is such a nice community, I'm glad I stumbled on it in my Google search I'll keep updating as I find out more...

Be careful if they are putting you in a 1.5T machine and comparing it to the 3T results. The 3T will pick up MUCH more detail and image vs the 1.5 (half the strength) Apples to apples is always the way to go.

I wish you the best.