Did you know before you were told?

[Thinkimjob]

You can't avoid the blindingly obvious. I went two years thinking, um well, it's not a bad back, and oooh my foot is unusually numb, think it could be, desperately hope it is not.

I saw the doctor's MS pamphlet on her desk before I was sent to the neurologist. She shuffled it away into a drawer, but I knew.

Double vision was the decider.
Saw the look on the MRI reader's face, though he wouldn't tell me. I knew.

I don't blame the doctors who saw me when I had numb feet, and wanted to sleep for a month. I didn't want to know, either.

[Ruffles]

You can't avoid the blindingly obvious. I went two years thinking, um well, it's not a bad back, and oooh my foot is unusually numb, think it could be, desperately hope it is not.

I saw the doctor's MS pamphlet on her desk before I was sent to the neurologist. She shuffled it away into a drawer, but I knew.

Double vision was the decider.
Saw the look on the MRI reader's face, though he wouldn't tell me. I knew.

I don't blame the doctors who saw me when I had numb feet, and wanted to sleep for a month. I didn't want to know, either.

I dont have a diagnosis yet. My official diagnosis is "Demyelinating disease of CNS." I suspect MS, but part of me is really hoping that with the unusual absence of lesions on my mris maybe there is something I just dont know about that it could be (my last mris were over a year and a half ago).

I am changing neuros and was told the new neuros office would look through my records and if it doesnt fit MS I would be referred to a neuro thats not in their MS department. I got scheduled with the head of the MS department the same day they got my records. Part of me is disappointed and Im still grasping at maybe they will be the best to completely rule it out, but Ive been preparing myself for an MS diagnosis for awhile.

I figure if I accept the fact that is what it most likely is I will be in a better place to ask appropriate questions and make the best decisions about my health care. Had I not been so caught up in not wanting it to be MS and clutching onto anything other than that I would have changed neuros awhile ago and could be ahead of where I am now in getting any progression slowed if it is MS.

So to answer your question part of me knows with the bloodwork and testing that has been done thus far there are only a few possibilities left the main on being MS. If I end up with an MS diagnosis I wont be surprised, just disappointed.

[annedocuk]

Oh yes I knew. It can be very difficult as a doctor not self diagnosing. I cured myself of a brain tumour when my numb leg got better after some weeks. A few months later my vision went funny. I knew and made myself unpopular with my GP when I went in and told her what I had wrong with me. Never a good move........but I knew I knew.

[Tomjadg]

Yes.
I knew a week before I had an MRI, and met with my Neuro.

My symptoms matched exactly what I found on the net.

[PattiHNC]

Didn't have a cue

At first, the neuro said it was a bulging disc, and a simple operation would fix it. Sounded good to me. So,they sent me to a neurosurgeon who said yes, I had a bulging disc, but it was on the left side, while my symptoms were on the right side. So he sent me back to the neuro with the suggestion that they look higher. He refused to speculate further, just have them look further up. The first thing I thought was "oh man, he thinks I have a brain tumor!" I knew next to nothing about MS. So when I was tentively diagnosed, my question was ok, what can we do about it? No cure, what do you mean no cure? And what do you mean, you can't say for sure yet? 2 months later, I was officially diagnosed, after I wound up in the hospital with a bad flare-up. Almost 4 months after that, I still feel shell-shocked. I'm learning more every day though, maybe someday I can learn to accept life as it is now.

[TinaP303]

Clueless

I was clueless. Completely & totally.
First I had tooth pain from healthy teeth, then sinus pain from healthy sinuses. A trip to a neuro led to a trip to an MRI tube. Then the neuro called me to come to my follow-up appt 2 weeks early. He said MS with a side of TN, MS specialist agreed. ~sigh~

[hunterd]

you would think that after seven years, I would have some idea, but my whole life long everything was blamed on my diabetes. And this was also. So I had no idea, the word MS was never mentioned.

[KatieAgain]

Sort of. I fell out of my chair in a staff meeting from dizziness. There were so many Neurological Issues going on with others, I knew it was something with the brain. Because of all the issues going on with others, they threw me in the tube to rule out any Brain Issues, even though I was not presenting typical symptoms.

I was called later that evening and informed that I had a Demylinating Disease. Which one, they did not know.

After numerous tests, several hospitals, and a few different opinions, it was confirmed I had MS. My diagnosis came quick and hard. I was never in limbo...and for that I am grateful.

[pennstater]

No clue. Blindsided. Of course, in retrospect, it made sense. Still remember the numbness I felt from the diagnosis, not MS itself!

[palmtree]

There is one word to answer your question: YES! The road signs were there but I put them out of my mind. I wanted to assure myself that the terrible thing wasn't coming. It wasn't always my symptoms. It was a premonition. A neighbor who I had never been nice to, decorated the whole apartment complex with his ornaments. He put a huge iron arch in front of my apartment and dangled a Christmas ornament from it. It looked as though he was trying to cast a spell on me. I looked at it and thought for a minute, 'what if all his superstitions have that power? MS! NO! That is silly.'

I still wonder. Could he have caused my MS?

[22cyclist]

A neurologist had mentioned it to me 4 years prior to my diagnosis because he had diagnosed me with trigeminal neuralgia. He also recommended we should get an MRI because to have TN at my young age usually meant MS. My MRA way fine so no vascular reasons for the TN. I said no thanks, what we he talking about I felt fine otherwise. Well, 4 years later, a couple of symptoms, a brain and spine MRI and BAM a diagnosis. So I didn't expect it, but did think Hmmm, I wonder if I should have listened to that first neurologist (yes-hindsight is 20/20)

Lisa

[palmtree]

If I had known there were treatments I might have sought a dx. But then they would have put me on the ABC drugs and they wouldn't have worked. I probably would not have made it to Tysabri any sooner. So it's a draw. No use looking back.