James Eckburg and MS Making the Diagnosis: You Have Multiple Sclerosis When you get told that you have multiple sclerosis it is not the end of your world. It is just that now it will be a different beginning. I’m going to share with you a story about a 42 year old father of three lives when he learns that he has Multiple Sclerosis. He went in to have some test done and one was a MRI. They brought him into a dressing room where he was told to change into a hospital gown that tied in the back. He was told to take off any jewelry, his watch, and anything like hearing aid or a metal dental bridge that might disrupt its magnetic field. He was a little scared not only of the fear that I might have Multiple Sclerosis but the diagnostic test itself will tell the doctor if I have the disease. The patient is now in a room lying down on some kind of futuristic bed that is all white. Everything in the room is also white and there is a humming noise in the background and it is also very cold in the room. The nurses tell him to relax but that is very hard to do when you are about to have a test done the first time. He feels like he has just entered a science fiction move. The radiology technician comes and pats me on my shoulder and smiles and tells me that it won’t take long for this test. The technician proceeds to tell me what will happen and that the MRI uses magnetic energy and radio frequencies to enable a scanner to transmit information about my brain, my brain stem and spinal cord to a computer in an outside room. That the information is translated into extremely accurate pictures of my central nervous system. The patient has no idea what the tech was talking about he just wants the test to start and get over with. The tech goes on to explain how the MRI works and that the patient will hear a lot of strange noises but to just relax and don’t get excited. The tech asked the patient if he was claustrophobic. If he was they can give him some tranquilizer to calm him if he wants. Now the tech tells the patient that he was going to give him an injection of a chemical dye now. The tech explains that it is called a contrast agent and it will enhance the images of the MRI. The patient says the famous last words “Ouch!! Okay” it is done. Now the chemical is now coursing through the patient’s body and now the patient is about to enter a tunnel. I have ha a couple of these and it is very interesting when you enter the MRI machine. After the nurses checks that you are ok and ready the table begins to move and you inter the MRI. The nurses go to another room like and watch you on the monitor while the test is being done. This is a very important test for the doctor to make an accurate diagnosis and to decide if the patient needs any treatment. What I have just talked about in the above paragraph is currently going on in the hospitals and imaging centers across the country. The MRIs are very important tool to use for diagnosing many different neurological conditions a patient may have such as tumors and stroke to Multiple Sclerosis. The MRI is particularly crucial for helping to determine if you have multiple sclerosis because it can show if there are multiple lesions in your brain. Even though the multiple sclerosis patients seemingly has only one episode. This is just one test that your doctor may run but there are other tests that could be used to help with the diagnose of multiple sclerosis. Some of these tests that could be used to rule out other conditions. These tests can be run before you have an MRI done. Still other tests may be used to confirm and MRI’s findings especially if the lesions are not clear-cut. Now this next few post will explain the different tools and tests neurologists will use before making the confirmed diagnosis that you have Multiple Sclerosis. James Eckburg Senior Health and Wellness Strategist Asea Get Healthy eckburgjoe.veretekk 114 E. Franklin St. Lanark, Illinois 61046 skype: jamesoeck1 joeckburg@gmail
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 02:30:30 +0000
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