The Ever-Elusive Diagnosis Quest

Hi, newbie here. I honestly have no idea if I have MS. My doctors so far tell me I do not, but I can't shake the idea that they're missing something. Paranoid? Perhaps. I'm sure the staff in the various doctors' offices think I'm a raging hypochondriac, lol. One of my doctors keeps trying to chalk my issues up to anxiety. Isn't it weird how we come forward as patients to get help for depression and anxiety, and then the medical establishment uses that information to dismiss or negate actual physical symptoms? Hmm. It is what it is, I suppose. Thankfully, not all doctors are like that. 😀

Anyway, bunny trail there. I have been through the gamut of tests. MRIs, lumbar puncture, labs, EEG, vestibular testing, etc. I do have lesions on my brain. My neuro years ago found them when I presented with an eye twitch that lasted for 10 1/2 weeks. At the time, she said it was normal white matter changes, and that we would keep an eye on it. I ended up moving out of the area. Fast forward a number of years, and I'm now presenting with all sorts of other symptoms:

-Being off balance
-Dizziness & vertigo
-Dropping things
-Shooting pains
-Intense itching
-Tingling & numbness
-Brain fog/forgetfulness
-Intense fatigue
-Limbs feeling heavy
-Random twitching
-Stiffness
-Overly strong reflex response
-Urinary frequency & occasional leaking
-Emotional lability
-Swallowing/choking issues
-Bruise very easily
-Headaches
-Cold sensation in shins & feet
-Hot and cold flashes
-Heat sensitivity
-Ears ringing
-Feeling that my body is "buzzing"
-Strangely high Epstein Barr titers from a past infection
-Pupils sometimes dilated unequally

My neuro sent me for a second opinion at UCLA. The neuro there is waiting for my most recent brain MRI images, but her current diagnosis is long COVID. While there is probably something to that (I had COVID & influenza A at the same time in October), sometimes I wonder if long COVID is a catch-all when they don't know what else to call something. At this point, it's all I have to go on.

My regular neuro doesn't look at the MRI images. She just looks at the radiology reports. The radiology around here has been known to make mistakes in their imaging reports, so I am not particularly keen on taking them at their word. Recently my primary had to send a report back to be amended because it didn't make sense. I also had an orthopedic surgeon tell me a radiology report was flat out wrong. (I had ACDF surgery in June.) Makes you wonder.

I had a negative lumbar puncture. No oligoclonal bands whatsoever. My understanding is there is a small percentage of people with MS who don't have that in their CSF. I'm wondering how to find out if I fall into that percentage.

So for now, I'm not sure what to do next. I'm considering other options, like a rheumatologist and/or other specialists. If it isn't MS, could it be another autoimmune disorder? Could the Epstein Barr and/or COVID have triggered MS or something else? I'm beginning to think I will never know. I do know that the doctors seem to be happy to look at the face value of the tests rather than digging deeper to figure out what's going on. They write off possibilities with less probability. Sigh.

Thanks for letting me vent. I'd be interested to know if anyone has similar experiences with negative tests despite several symptoms. Any recommendations for next steps? Maybe a MS specialist instead of a straight neuro?