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Before I was diagnosed with MS, I was sent off for numerous tests.
I was told they were negative and there was nothing wrong with me.
I spent twelve years being an emotional wreak,
the doctor had made me feel it was in my mind.
I got so afraid that I wouldn't go to see the doctor at all until one day
I woke up and I'd totally lost vision.
I was sent straight to the A&E and they arranged an MRI scan for me.
In MS, focal legions occur in the brain and the spinal cord
in which there is loss of the myelin sheath around nerve fibers.
And this is quite a major structural change which shows up as
an increase in the water content, and is seen very clearly on MRI scanning.
We can see here in the brain the normal structures, the grey matter on the outside
and the darker white matter on the inside, but the legions are the bright areas
where there is loss of myelin occuring.
Dorothy: I had my first MRI scan.
When the bed moved into what we called, 'the tunnel',
that was quite frightening.
Takes about an hour and a half.
By the end of that session, I was getting terrified.
It took three or four weeks to get the results.
I was then told, that I had MS.
It wasn't all in my mind; it was a tremendous relief.
I do find that the emotional part of MS is the most difficult.
Since getting the diagnosis, that's been alot easier.
I felt more in control of what my illness was and what was happening to me.
In someone who has a definite diagnosis of MS, follow up MRI scanning
may be useful for monitoring the course of someone's condition.
After I got a definite diagnosis of MS I was invited to go onto a trial
of what's called a disease modifying drug.
They used a scan every month.
It would chart if the condition was getting worse,
if it was active, where you may get problems.
Future MS trials require the latest technology.
The most exciting development within MR imaging in recent years
is the higher field MRI scanners that are available.
These are simply more more powerful instruments that provide clearer and more detailed pictures
throughout the brain and the spinal cord.
The new ones are quicker, better,
not quite so frightening!
Professor Miller: The research is focusing on looking at the loss of nerve cells
and nerve fibers that occur.
The hope is that by picking up sensitive MRI measures
of the changes occurring in these structures it will be possible
to predict the course earlier on, to target treatments where they are most likely to be of benefit.
Without the investments that the MS Society put towards research in MRI scanners,
the hospitals wouldn't be able to afford them, and that make my life more difficult.
So I am grateful to everyone that has made donations to get that equipment for us.