Oligoclonal Bands ????
Billington, Rosie (BILLINGTOR(AT)entcf1.agw.bt.co.uk)
Wed, 09 Apr 97 09:52:00 GMT
I saw my neurologist last Friday for the first time since the onset in late
November. I have now formally got TM at L1-L3 - previously it was
infectious myelitis !!!!. They didn't find anything in the blood tests -
no antibodies, no clotting problems etc. and I had a negative visual accuity
test (this looks at the responses in the brain to a flashing chequer board
and is used in the diagnosis for MS). They did find OLIGOCLONAL bands in
the spinal fluid. I have read an abstract through Medline that would
indicate that it is a key differentiator between TM and MS, as is the
presence of swelling at the lesion sight on the MRI, although the sample was
very small. Has anyone else had these oligoclonal bands ? Has a TM
diagnosis turned into one of MS ? Also is there any correlation with
those who have had a reoccurence of TM ?
The good news was that they thought I would be fully better in 6 months (11
months from onset) based on my improvement to date - so fingers crossed !
They also gave me carbamezapene - I think you know it as Tegretol, which has
reduced the pain of the tight banding considerably. I know there have
been quite a lot of discussion about Tegretol and I found some clinical
infomation on the WWW at http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/carbam.htm.
Enjoy !
Looking forward to hearing from you........
Rosie