HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Had Scan

Support Forums
>
Multiple Sclerosis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/30/2011 4:40 AM (GMT 0)
Well i asked my GP for a referal to a Nurologist she said it can take 6 months to get an appointment with one but she sent me for a CT Brain Scan yesterday, i asked the tech that did it how good it is at picking up MS he said Hm well an MRI is the way to go, so why send me for a CT Brain Scan ? and to get an MRI i need a Specilists Referal and it takes 6 months to get to see one ! i have gotten used to the " Wobbles " falling over nothing or wobbeling into furniture,and the headachs come and go,and the Jumpy mussels legs jump or shrug shoulders, but it's the Memory loss thats really getting to me i wanted to laminate a picture and needed the plastic pouches so i say to hubby " do you know where the ,.......Blank,,,,,> umm do you know whrer the thingys for the um ,,,, " he now says What- relax think what is it you want to do?" ( um i want to have a picture  in the plastic LAMINATER Thats it i want the Laminater sheets) 6 months minimum wait to see if i have MS  So what to do in the mean while ?

 

Posted 5/1/2011 4:08 AM (GMT 0)
6 months! That is a long wait. Worse than that, you could get an MRI in 6 months and still not have any answers. That is also quite common. FInding lesions on an MRI doesn't guarantee a diagnosis or treatment for MS.

Why such a long wait? Is this an insurance problem? The radiologist is correct. I had a CT scan and an MRI in the same weekend. The CT scan showed nothing. The MRI showed lesions.

By the way, please don't take this personally, I have a great deal of trouble reading your posts. Perhaps you could break things up into paragraphs and sentences? My vision isn't so hot; I have trouble reading texts that are in large blocks.
Posted 5/1/2011 4:57 AM (GMT 0)

Hi THANKS GRETCHEN1,

WE HAVE A 6 MONTH WAIT AS I LIVE IN COUNTRY AND I THINK WE ONLY HAVE 1 NUROLOGIST

IT TAKES THAT LONG TO GET IN

AND THE MRI HAS A 6 WEEK WAIT TO HAVE IT DONE, THATS AFTER SEEING NUROLOGIST FOR REFERAL.

YES THAT IS WHAT I AM AFRAID OF THE CT WONT SHOW ANYTHING THEN I HAVE TO CONVINCE GP TO BOOK NUROLOGIST

I AM FEELING LIKE I AM CONPLAINING, BUT IT REALLY IS GETTING WORSE, AND AS I HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH RA YEARS AGO I FEEL THEY WILL SIMPLY THINK OH ITS JUST HER RA NO NEED TO CHECK ANY FURTHER BUT THE NON RA SYMPTOMS THAT I HAVE BEEN GETTING SINCE TAKING THE HUMIRA ARE

TINGLING LIKE FURRY FEEL IN FACE

PINS NEEDLES IN FEET AND OCCASIONALY HANDS

BAD SHORT TERM MEMORY LOSS

MOOD SWINGS - VERY GROUCHY

WOBBLY UNEASY WALK FALL INTO WALLS OR FURNITURE

DIZZYNESS

LIGHT SENSITIVITY

HEADACH - WHEN FIRST STARTED HUMIRA HAD HEADACH FOR 3 WEEKS JUST DECIDED HAD ENOUGH GOING TO HOSPITAL AND IT EASED, BUT NOW GET REOCCURANT HEADACHS MAINLY ON LEFT SIDE

JUMPING LEGS, MUSSEL CONTRACTIONS - A FLINCH OF SHOULDER OR FLICK OF HAND

THATS THE MAIN STUFF, I REALLY FEEL WORRIED IT IS MS

Posted 5/1/2011 3:35 PM (GMT 0)
Oh dear!

You are in a tough spot. Only one neurologist? What are the chances that that one neurologist has any experience with MS? I usually recommend anyone who suspects MS to see an MS specialist.

I have heard it time and time again about folks getting the "brush off" from general neurologists. They will explain away brain lesions as migraines, or normal for your age.

Most of your symptoms can be attributed to MS. Remember that MS is the great mimic. There are many many diseases, syndromes and disorders that share its symptoms. Getting an MS diagnosis and the appropriate treatment can be very difficult. The chronic headaches are more rare in MS. The light sensitivity I have never heard of for MS.

Making it even harder is that MS treatments are incredibly expensive. Those that live in a country with social medicine have the worst time. Doctors are flat out told not to diagnose anything but the most obvious MS as its very expensive to treat. ($ 3,000 to $10,000 per month). MS is the most common neurological disease of people between 20 and 40.

In Canada, you most likely won't get a diagnosis until you show 9 or more lesions and significant impairment, with a positive lumbar puncture and clearly failed evoked potentials. You will have to show several "events" separated by both time and space (brain location). As a comparison, I was diagnosed with just two lesions.

Meanwhile, you may want to google MS treatments via diet and supplements. It couldn't hurt. I take 4,000IU of D3 everyday. Most MSers are low in D3. It is a neuro critical suppplement. Also, exercise as much as possible. With RA you will want to swim or do other low impact work.

My neuro asks at all my 3 month visits what I am doing to exercise. It is considered critical for holding off progression.

Best of luck to you. I hope you can get some answers real soon.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply