I have been suffering recurring bouts of dizziness and vertigo, sometimes with headaches and nausea too, for the last month. I feel like my head is spinning constantly and my balance is slightly off. My physician took blood for testing and after checking my reflexes and eyesight (all normal), referred me for an MRI brain scan with IAMS. In the referral letter, he said he wanted to rule out demyelineation. Can you please explain what this is? Does it relate to MS? Thank you.
HI, thanks for using Chat Doctor Myelin is a sheath that is seen over nerves in the brain, spinal cord and in other areas of the body. This sheath allows impulses to travel quickly along the nerve. In declination this sheath is destroyed or damaged. MS is one cause of declination, but there are others causes. Though declination can cause the symptoms that you are experiencing there are also more benign causes of vertigo and dizziness, your doctor is ruling out the more serious causes first which is understandable. Vertigo is commonly caused by inner ear conditions such as deniers disease, BPPV and vestibular neuritis. Wishing you the best