Connection between Epstein Barr, Mycoplasma and MS??

In case anyone else is reading this thread and is interested, here's a pretty clear description of encephalitis, cause, treatments, all that:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/encephalitis/DS00226

As for the neck MRI: The neck is a very concentrated part of your body.  Lots of bones, joints, nerves, blood vessels, other "stuff" coming from your brain to the rest of your body, all "squished together" there.   So while part of the neck may well show up on a brain MRI, they apparently want a more focused concentrated view of the neck through an MRI, to see if there are any lesions or other abnormalities there that might account for some of your difficulties.

You may well have chronic lyme disease -- which means it won't go away, it will recur, it will come back with intensity, and can cause neurological difficulties. Neuroborreliosis -- which is described here, for those who don't know --http://pn.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/4/3/152.pdf

can be a very debilitating chronic condition.

Basically -- sounds like all of what you're describing, including lesions on your brain -- can be attributed to your having Lyme disease which has become chronic. Chronic by definition means "not cureable", treatable  (in your case, with antibiotics) but you'll always have it, and while it may fade in intensity sometimes, it can flare up again -- which is what it sounds like is happening with you.

Let us know how your neck MRI goes..maybe they'll find something different in there.  Did you ever get a spinal tap? That might show a chronic infection of the central nervous system, too.

I activated your second link, Cat.

I do hope you understand, Carolyn, that if you DO have MS, the common treatments for MS (Copaxone, Avonex, Betaseron, Rebif) are not cures, and won't alleviate any symptoms. You'd have to continue to take other medications that might help some symptoms, but they won't make them go away entirely, either.  Minocycline is used in some very limited instances for people with MS, and isn't a cure, either.

MS is not an easy disorder to diagnose.  It's considered a "diagnosis of exclusion", meaning they'll rule out everything else before declaring it -- which is going to be complicated in your situation, since you're dealing with the brain tumor and a possible chronic infection of the central nervous system (whatever it's cause -- Lyme, or something else).  I'm sure your doctor is trying to sort through all that.  It is not hereditary, in the sense of other inherited things. There is some genetic predisposition -- that is, some people with MS have other immediate family members with MS, but certainly not all.  And some people with MS have other family members with other autoimmune disorders...but again, not all.  There are lots of us who are "blessed" with being the only one in our family with the disease.  There is no known cause of MS, and no cure -- only the meds that have shown promise that they'll reduce the number and intensity of flares, or exacerbations of the disease.

The common drugs for MS (Copaxone, etc.), are all injectible medications, by the way. You will learn to inject yourself on a schedule for that medication -- some are daily, some weekly, and so on.  They are expensive, too -- around $800-$1,000 per month, generally covered by health insurance (if you have health insurance that covers prescription medications).