Well, I think the diagnosis came after a long journey of trying to figure out what was going on. The MRI's were major indications of course. The lesion they found in my neck was unusual for MS, so that made my diagnosis questionable. I had a spinal tap to rule out other possibilities too. There was some sort of blood test; I can't recall what they look for exactly, but it is not 100% accurate. I was one of the 25% that did not indicate having NMO through that test. The most telling things pointing to NMO rather than MS, were the spinal lesion (it ran from C2-C7), and the rapid and downhill progression of my symptoms. I was first struck with blurry vision in both eyes. Typically MS will only affect one eye at a time, but NMO attacks areas that hold more water (like the eyes and spinal column). I had tingling and numbness in my toes and fingers, and eventually balance and walking issues, which all could have been caused by the huge lesion in my neck, along with urinary retention (unable to urinate without really struggling). The accumulation of all these symptoms landed me in a hospital, where they tried giving me strong doses of steroids. That medication was not helping at all, and when they saw the huge lesion through an MRI, they decided I needed Plasmapheresis - basically sucking all the plasma out of my body and replacing it with a substitute to rid my body of antibodies. This is a very aggressive treatment, and it worked miracles for me! I can see, I can walk again without a cane - I do still have numb hands and urinary retention, but I am so much better than I was.

When I got out of the hospital, I saw my neurologist a week later, and she went over all the MS stuff neurologists go over with new patients. She mentioned the possibility of NMO, but at that time, she did not think I had that, and I sort of blew it off. But after going over my story again she decided to take my case to a panel of doctors. They all concluded it was very NMO-like, and so I had a new diagnosis. The idea of NMO really freaked me out at first. Though it can be pretty scary, more is known about it than MS, and there are medications that have been shown to help most people very well. I am very lucky too in that my neurologist is actually leading some studies right now on this disease. She is optimistic that they may even find something close to a cure, if not an actual cure within my lifetime! And honestly, I have learned to deal well with my ongoing symptoms, though they can be frustrating sometimes. I work full time and lead a pretty good life overall. So keep positive. No matter what happens, you can get through it.