Hyperintensity Flair means MS?

[Frankpc56]

My wife was just notified by her doctor's nurse that her recent MRI revealed that she had hyperintensity flairs.  She was instructed to make an appointment with a neurologist.  That appointment is not until July 7, which is over a week from today.  After a long night of googleing this condition, she is now convinced that she has MS.  For the past year, my wife has been experiencing strange pains that have brought us to the emergency room twice. She is 29 yrs old, by the way.  She had numbness on one side of her face, chest pain (under one breast) , tingley to numb arms and fingers.  All of which seem to be magnified by stress.  She is a special event coordinator - which can be very stressful at times.  Her parents have each had health issues the past year. And we are carrying a balance on a credit card.  All of these things combined with painful and unexplained episodes have driven her to the conclusion that she has MS.  Her doctors as well as the ER docs have attributed her episodes to be stress related.  They then tell her to pop a xanax and call them in the morning.  I'm worried too but I try to keep telling her not to diagnose herself off of an internet search.  Does anyone have a professional opinion about this?  She has over a week before we meet with the neurologist.  Can someone help with some information in laymen’s terms a couple of bachelors degrees can understand?  Thanks - Frank

[torikat32]

HI Frank and welcome to the best forum on the internet you will meet the most kind and caring people here. Lulu has directed you to the health pages and gave you some great advice . glad your wife got to see a neuro next week but please try to get the films and report the neuro should look at the MRI themselves.

best of luck
Kat

[twopack]

Wow, job well done in a very timely manner by two of our best.

I'm glad you found us Frank.  Come back if it turns out you have more questions and invite your wife along too!

Mary

[Frankpc56]

Thank you!

[essdipity]

Hi and welcome. Lulu has given you a great deal of information already, so I won't repeat that.

I did want to say that FLAIR is an imaging technique for MRI, so maybe you have your terms confused. It IS very confusing for all of us. Perhaps you could quote from the MRI report, and that would give us a better idea of what's happening. We still couldn't diagnose anything, since none of us are qualified.

If you have a neurologist appointment in early July, you are really lucky. Many of us have to wait months. In any case, best of luck, and please let us know.

ess

[Lulu54]

Wow, you have been totally Frank here with the situation and we would be hard pressed to say this is stress and not something else, or vice versa.

The internet is a wonderful tool - it brought you here where you can get straight advice and information, but it can also be a dangerous place full of pitfalls.

The best I can tell you is that one week is a very short period of time to wait to see a neurologist.  Most people wait a month or more.  The other part of that good news, if it can be called that, is MS is a very slow moving disease and there is no panic to see a doctor, like there might be with another disease like cancer.

Her symptoms could be neurological but they could also be stress. If the doctor is seeing  hyperintensity flairs on her mri, good for them to investigate further.  These spots can come from a number of things, including MS, migraines and ishemic events.  There are even some people who have these from trauma at birth.

The best thing you both can do right now is learn more about MS and the exam the neurologist will do.  We have great health pages here that put everything into very understandable terms.  

You can find our health pages at

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/list?cid=36

Whatever you two do when the neuro appt time comes, do not mention that you have been looking on the internet - that is the quickest way to be dismissed by the doctor.

Unfortunately MS is a diagnosis of exclusion - there are a lot of things that mimic MS and they all have to be eliminated as possibilities before the doctor will call it ms.  For most people, that involves months and months of testing and waiting.  It wears on the nerves, but you don't want your wife to get the wrong diagnosis.

And please tell her for me that if it is MultipleScleroris, it is not a death sentence, or even being confined to a wheelchair in the near future.  The treatment of MS has advanced so far and there are new treatments coming soon that will make a world of difference.

We're here to answer questions as you think of them - feel free to ask.

be well, Lulu