The first of cliff hangers; Dignosis.

Obviously to all medical  abnormalities in a human body, there is stereotypically a study then a solution and then treatment. MS also follows the same pathway, as easy as it may seem it can be very difficult for a definite diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. There are many possibilities to the initial complaints of an MSer in their more 'baby' days of the disease. Therefore certain forms of 'research' are carried out to eradicate any possibilities and find the concluding answer.

There are a handful of tests carried out which I'll go through below. Grab a nice warm drink and get comfortable!

Neurological examination: This being one of the easy ones, a neurologist ( a doctor specialising in nerve related or neurological conditions) will carry out a short assessment of sensory neuron and motor responses, especially reflexes, to determine whether the nervous system is impaired. Simply put this can be things like matching your finger between your nose and their finger to see whether your perceptions are a bit 'off', give it a go with someone to see how it goes. Another could be when they pull out their medical hammers to give you a bit of a whack and see the automatic response the body will carry out.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This one being the scan that scares a lot of people hearing about it! Where the body is placed in an oven like machine which is very loud and in the case of MS the brain and spine is scanned, this shows healthy and unhealthy nerve cells ( see the example below). Either by first look or scans carried out over a period of time which show more/ worsened or odd looking nerve cells and linking them to complaints of the patient, it shows the medical team the likelihood of it being MS, it sometimes taking discussion with a team of even world renown neurologists (like in my case!) and radiologists (those who do the scans and know how to read the pictures that come out. Majority of MSers are diagnosed via the use of MRI scans.

Evoked potential test: electrodes being placed on the brain or spinal cord and the electric potential ( as the messages sent across nerves are a bit like electric currents) are analysed (the speed of the reaction) in response to a stimulus like loud noise or so.

Lambur puncture/ spinal tap: The brain and spinal cord are bathed in fluid. A spinal tap, also called a lumbar puncture, is a procedure doctors use to remove and test some of this liquid, called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). If there is an abnormal amount of WBCs present this can be used as a cue to their being autoimmune activity. Just a warning to anyone who may have this procedure done, it is quite scary but professionals are so for a reason! Unlike the advice I was given beforehand about it being like an epidural given in childbirth and it hurting for the rest of my life ( a load of rubbish!). When told to rest after, really make the most of it, I jumped up after a few minutes only to almost pass out at home time and be given medical advice to go ahead and drink lots of coke, to which my dad had requested six cans of coke to be left at my bedside at home!

Blood tests: Last but not least, simple blood tests may be carried out, to eradicate the small possibilites like diabetes, because of my skin colour and genetic liking to diabetes, this was the initial thought by my GPs, but as the saying goes ; jack of all trades but masters of nothing!

The white dots on the brain indicating damaged nerves.