Ask the Experts: Pediatric MS
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Q: Text of question My daughter was 5 yr old when she started blinking her left eye. On MRI, there were white matter in her right brain. She never had any complications before ,only eye blinking but doctor said she has tourette syndrome and not due to white lesions. now she blinks her both eyes and has several other tics. Can tourette syndrome be caused because of white matter in right brain? As she has no other complications what are the chances of MS? What age they start changing as 2 MRIs were done in 6 months but there was no change in white matter ?
A: Tourette's syndrome is usually not associated with MS. It is also usually not associated with white matter lesions of the brain. The fact that the white matter lesions have not changed supports this not being MS. Your doctor might consider repeating another MRI in one year to ensure that the lesions have not changed any further.
Tanuja Chitnis M.D.
January 2013
Q: My child is 11. She was diagnosed with mono when she was 10. 3 months later she was still fatigued. She was diagnosed with double mono then. Fatigue and weakness got worse. Then what they called blinding migraines because she would develope a large blind spot on her eye and then it would go away. She gets very dizzy when she showers or stands. Doctors cannot find a diagnosis and MRI was clear. Should I have her checked further for ms? When she tries to do any physical activity she shakes and has tremors.
A: Your daughter's vision symptoms are likely due to migraine headaches, especially if her symptoms go away. The dizziness could be due to many things. The fact that there are no lesions on her MRI speaks strongly against this being MS.
Tanuja Chitnis M.D.
October 2012
Q: Sir, I want to know what how to diagnose MS in kids. My son is 11 yrs old his eyesight became weak, its 05inleft eye and 1.50 in right eye. Could it be due to MS as I am suffering from MS?"
A: MS usually causes fairly sudden changes in vision, usually occurring over 2-3 days. If your son's vision problems have been occurring slowly, or if you cannot pinpoint a day when they started, then it is unlikely to be due to MS. The most common causes of vision changes in children are refractory errors which can be corrected by glasses or ambylopia (lazy eye) which can be corrected by patching. Usually vision changes due to MS are accompanied by pain on eye movement and decreased color vision. MS in children is rare, even if a parent has MS.
Tanuja Chitnis M.D.
February 2009