Thanks for the clarification, Rex.

I've run into a number of people who felt that they may not have gotten accurate results because gad wasn't used, and to be honest, I wondered for a long time if my original MRI showed everything that was going on at the time. I haven't had a MRI since then, and there were only 2 - 3 brain lesions (he pointed them out on the image, and the radiologist's report endorsed that), but I am having another MRI (with gad this time) some time in the near future.

Most of my damage is in the spinal cord anyway, but I also had lots of bulging discs. I think the reason she is going for a MRI with gad this time (in the spine), is to try to differentiate between that damage and the MS lesions.

BTW, do you know if spinal lesions might show up bigger if the MRI is done during the flare up? That seems to make sense to me, but I'm wondering how big of difference, i.e. double the size, there might be depending on if someone is in the midst of a flare.

As far as my daughter, I don't know what the ped. neuro meant by "piecing together" her MRI results. I envisioned that they got images from many various angles, and between all of them she felt she had enough information to determine if there were lesions present.

My daughter is still having neurological problems, but much improved from a few months ago. I won't be getting her another MRI unless things change substantially in time, and I do believe that lesions that weren't visible during the first neurological event, can crop up some time down the road. What I've found though is . . . every ADULT that I polled a few months back, who had a clear MRI to begin with, always had MS lesions the next time a MRI was done. The lesions showed up within 12 - 18 months in every case (that a person had another MRI that early on . . .).

Thanks for sharing your expertise.

Cherie

I don't get the impression that you're having new or exacerbated symptoms. If not, then there are only two reasons for prescribing gadolinium:

1. The neurologist is ordering it as a routine protocol; or
2. He/she doesn't really understand where gadolinium is indicated

Don't laugh - you'd be amazed at how many order gadolinium in cases where it will contribute nothing (e.g., a routine cervical spine in a patient with tingling in the hand and no previous history of surgery, a lumbar spine to r/o a herniated disk, etc.)

I don't know the answer to that one.

I'm too.

NP, and I wish both you and your daughter the best.

Yup.


Nope.

Well, I think it's mostly to do with my numb hands and feet, as well as the sensation changes (much stronger sensation of numbness, vertigo, etc. that are associated with certain "positions").

She has been calling that a "like-l'hirmettes" symptom, which I guess could be true whether the l'hirmette's is caused by MS, spinal cord compression, or whatever. She's been blaming the MS though, yet we are aware that I had several bulging discs on my last spinal MRI, 6 yrs ago. I think she just wants to see if anything can be figured out by using gad to differentiate between MS and any other spinal cord issues.

The other thing is that I have large spinal cord lesions, which MAY indicate NMO/Devics, vs MS. When they did the MRI in 2003, I didn't have gad, but they were really focusing their attention on the spinal cord anyway (which doesn't require gad if the spinal lesions are big enough). I got the dx based on my large spinal cord lesions, which were obvious and correlated directly with my symptoms/history.

There were only the few brain lesions, even that far into the disease process (12+ yrs), so at that point they considered Devic's anyway. However, it didn't matter much then, because NMO/Devic's were just considered "bad MS". Since then they've determined that it is actually a different disease process which requires different treatments (immunosuppressants vs. immuno-modulatory drugs).

I don't take any of the meds anyway, so unless they had to react without my consent one day, I would just carry on as I have been doing. Perhaps she wants to know though, in case Rituximab or something else might be advisable in an emergency.

As far as gad in the brain, I am (ALMOST!) 50 now, so maybe there could be various other reasons for lesions there (aging, stroke, etc.). Perhaps she is hoping that gad might give them a bit more information in that regard.

On the other hand, it could be that she is just following her usual protocol . . . and I WILL ask her to explain her reasoning before I use the gad. I have SUCH difficulty with procedures, treatments, drugs . . . she seemed very dubious about the idea anyway.

Thanks for the well wishes for my daughter. That WAS scary, but to be honest I was most interested in trying to rule out other potentially worse options ...

Cherie

I had my MRI. I haven't heard the results yet though. I just had the MRI done on Monday.

They did give me an injection partway through. What I found surprising was that the injection didn't create the heat/hot feeling rush through my body on the side they injected.

Are they using something different for MRIs now for contrast maybe?

In any event, it went off without a hitch. My neuro did call today and I get to visit there in July. No telling what he's going to say regarding my decision to stop my injections. No mention of blood work either, so I have a feeling they already know what's up (that I stopped the needles).

Wow, my doctor's (GP) office called already with my MRI results!

Apparently, the 'activity' has decreased dramatically since my last MRI (Feb. 08) and no new plaques!

So I'll be seeing my neurologist in July, but overall the doctor sounded very optimistic that this MRI showed excellent results, versus my previous.

The bothersome thing is her telling me they don't believe my MS to be the cause of my neuralgia in my head area. What could it be then?!

Her response was, 'Oh, it could just be one of those things'. No, I don't think so but whatever .

(oh on that subject, the Cesamet's beginning to help quite a lot!)