In my case, I believe the doctors knew they were looking at a case of multiple sclerosis from the moment they began the exam. But I have heard from a number of people who say their MS diagnosis came as a surprise and something of an accident.
Looking for One Thing, Finding Another
For example, some people have reported having suffered some form of head trauma — from a car accident or a fall, for instance — and being diagnosed with MS on the basis of tests done to check for internal damage. They may or may not have experienced what they now know of as MS symptoms before this incident. In the case of rare or unusual MS symptoms, doctors may be looking for something completely different and stumble across lesions that have them doing a diagnostic turn and looking for corroborating signs of multiple sclerosis. People have even relayed to me that they had been treated for (even prescribed medication for) a completely different ailment for years, only to find that they really had MS, not the disease with which they’d been diagnosed previously. Sometimes another condition occurs along with MS and parallels it so closely that only a specialist can tease out that there may be two diseases at work at the same time in the same person.
What Led to Your MS Diagnosis?
It’s not like my GP ordered an MRI to look for a sinus infection and found MS — quite the opposite. It isn’t all that uncommon, however, for docs to go looking for one thing (or looking to rule out something) and discover that there is something seriously wrong under the hood. I’d love to hear from some of our readers about their accidental diagnosis with MS. Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers, Trevis Illustration: Getty Images
