In order to be sure that someone has a certain disease, they first have to receive a diagnosis, which can be given after a series of tests and identification of present symptoms. This is the same for multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease; however, there are many tests (and symptoms) that can be used to determine if someone had MS, none of which are official or set in stone. Therefore, medical professionals need a holistic sense of a patient’s medical history before making any diagnoses.
Doctors must do specific tests to figure out if a patient has enough indicators that may lead them to believe they have multiple sclerosis. These tests include MRI scans, neurological examinations, blood tests, and lumbar punctures. Some are done to rule out similar diseases or disorders that may induce similar symptoms as multiple sclerosis, one of which is blood tests. On the other hand, lumbar punctures and MRI scans are used to see if the body has signs of MS. These signs usually tend to be antibodies or immune cells (lumbar puncture), which are indicative of autoimmune diseases related to the nervous system, or any abnormal damage in the myelin that covers nerves (MRI scan).
In addition to these tests, a person must meet specific criteria for a diagnosis of MS to be made. First, they must have had at least two flare-ups that have a time period of a month between, meaning that they had to have experienced symptoms typical of multiple sclerosis. Secondly, there has to be at least one place found in MRI scans that has damage done to the myelin found within the nervous system, indicating that myelin damage has occurred repeatedly. The symptoms previously mentioned that are associated with the autoimmune disease can vary greatly, but some of the common ones include vision problems, difficulty with walking, numbness, etc.
They are critical to take note of as these symptoms tend to be the first that are exhibited. However, they can be easy to mix up with other conditions, making it easy to explain them away initially. In fact, people with MS have had issues with being diagnosed due to healthcare professionals’ doubts of their symptoms arising from the presence of multiple sclerosis. This problem, along with the fact that there is not an official or main test to determine if someone has MS, makes it especially hard to make a diagnosis of MS with complete certainty.
The process of diagnosing a person with multiple sclerosis can be long and difficult. Many medical tests exist to aid in this process, and a list of symptoms that tend to be noticed first in a person with MS guides both patients and healthcare providers with figuring out the cause of medical issues. Nevertheless, it is still important to recognize how arduous diagnosis can be due to the variation and unpredictability of this disease.
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