you speak of your problems as bilateral, which is not normal (possible but not normal) for MS. MS can be hereditary but for example, from parent to child is around 1% last I heard.
There are other diseases that mimic MS, many of which can be ruled out by blood tests and you did not mention any blood test results.
MS for each of us is different. If you put 100 MS patients in a room, you would have 100 different symptoms and problems. There are similarities but we each have many different problems. Dx sometimes takes many years and many doctors. I personally went 30 yrs an 4 neurologists before getting a Dx. You would also need 2 MRI with lesions with time and space between them.
Keep at it, something is causing your problems, but I don't think it is MS.
Sarah
The most important reason to see an MS specialist, when trying to rule MS in or out, is that it is first and foremost a clinical diagnosis. Blood tests, spinal taps and MRI's are supposed to be used to support clinical findings. A general neurologist may not see enough MS to properly interpret clinical findings.
Folks have been diagnosed with negative LP's and MRI's. Blood tests are used to rule out MS mimics like Lyme disease. People have also bee diagnosed with symptoms that present bilaterally. (raises hand)
As Sarah said, if you put 100 people with MS together, you'll hear 100 different stories :-) It's the nature of our beast. Because diagnosing MS is tricky business, you need a specialist to sort through our 100 stories and come up with #101.
Kyle