It looks like there is a blood test being researched but I've never heard of one to rule out MS.

I'm going to ask him about the test....what it's called and what it tests for.

http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-h...osis/81247603/

Wow, that was a bit upsetting...

They've been talking about it for a long time. but not perfected yet. It sure would save a lot of time and anxiety and bad Docs, who tell ya its in your head, if they had one.

I bet they were talking about the IgG test for NMO (Devic's). I think it's thought that Devic's might be related to MS in some way, and possibly the poster at that thread/forum got confused between the two.

Sorry, but sounds like wishful thinking - or an untutored poster to me. Sometimes it is easy to sound expert when you think nobody is going to prove you wrong - but there again, that could, in fact, be me - and they have come up with a blood test. This would be good, because I have this nagging denial that I can't seem to shake.

PLEASE prove me wrong!

Poster was clearly confused about the purpose of the blood tests. They were doing blood work to look for other causes and an MRI to look for MS. I am somewhat confused as to why they would clear Jesse of MS with an MRI that showed spots in the subcortical white matter. That MRI sounds exactly like my first MRI. Perhaps it is the character of the spots and exact locations, but I wouldn't rule MS out entirely with that presentation on an MRI.

It would be helpful if you could either PM him or go on that thread to clarify for him.

There's no real consensus, the idea of Devic's as a separate disease is still pretty new. It's hard to do any research on as it's so rare. I am one of the handful of sufferers in my country (dad always told me I was special ). Multiple doctors still refer to me as having MS - and I do too sometimes when trying to explain it to laypeople, it's just easier. The IgG test is positive in about 70% of Devic's cases so it's by no means a miracle diagnostic tool - mine was negative for example. MRI still remains the test with the highest specificity for diagnosing any demyelinating condition.

I never heard of Devic's. It seems there are diagnoses out there that most of us never heard of. Remember when they predicted computers would be automatically able to diagnose diseases...they predicted that decades ago, and this goal was never reached.

For those who have not heard of Devics: The current terminology for this disease is Neuromyelitis-optica (NMO). NMO (Devics) was once considered a variant of MS but it is now a disease separate of MS. It is important to get the correct diagnosis as treatment for NMO is different from treatment for MS.

The blood test for NMO is sent to the MayoClinic, they are the ones who developed the IgG test.

http://myelitis.org/symptoms-conditi...elitis-optica/

http://www.mayoclinic.org/neuromyelitis-optica/