When it comes to detecting MS the doctor in question must consider a series of more than 50 symptoms. In detecting Multiple Sclerosis, many of these symptoms also occur in other diseases and therefore the doctor may refer the patient to a neurologist at first, in order to determine that the symptoms are not caused by a different type of ailment. The doctor will have to rule out quite a few of these illnesses and for that reason it may take some time to get a definitive diagnosis of MS as additional testing will have to be done and symptoms will have to be checked against very specific criteria.
It is important to remember that there are no quick ways to determine if a person has MS by running a simple blood test. There are a number of different tests that are used to make such a diagnosis and they can take a long time to complete and may be uncomfortable. It is also important to understand that a lot of research has been done and has led to the development of very specific lists of symptoms that the doctor will check the reported symptoms of the patient who comes to them against. This information will be used to make the determination of whether or not such a person who has come to see the doctor has MS.
In order to assist with detecting this disease, patients are encouraged to maintain a journal where their symptoms are recorded. Trying to diagnose MS is much easier when the patient can give the doctor as much information as possible such as what symptoms happen when, how long they last, and whether or not they come back.
Using Criteria to Detect Multiple Sclerosis
As stated above, when diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis doctors do use a set of specific criteria. A doctor will consider whether or not the patient experienced 2 or more episodes a month apart and whether or not those episodes each lasted at least 24 hours. Along with this, the patient in question should be between 20 and 50 years old. Such criteria indicate that the brain or the spinal cord is damaged by a disease and then the MRI scan is performed. This particular scan will show at least two lesions and possibly more.
In detecting MS and detecting Multiple sclerosis the doctors will use the criteria stated above, as well as a list of symptoms reported by the patient and a list of very specific tests to make a definitive diagnosis.
