I'm Shelby. I'm 49, in the Tampa area, and the widowed mom of two amazing college-aged kids. And I'm in MS Limbo.
My neuro has pretty much ruled out all the mimics but in order to get the official MS diagnosis, rather than just probable MS, she had scheduled me for an LP and evoked potentials. Just heard from the insurance company on Friday that my copay for the LP is more than a week's worth of pay so I won't be doing that. We'll see what the out-of-pocket for the BAER, SSER and VEP is and then I'll decide about that. (I'm almost kind of glad that the LP is a no-go, honestly, there was a 50% chance that the doctor doing it would be the one on whose table my husband died and that freaks me out a little.)
So, after a lot of research here and in some medical journals, I'm cleaning up my diet, losing weight (11 lbs so far; I packed on pounds after Rich died), adding D3 (doctor recommended as my level was 29), acetyl L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. I'm working exercise into the mix as well to keep strong as much as I can.
I'd like to have the definitive diagnosis but there's a limit as to how much time and money I can spend to get there. I think the things I'm doing are helping; yesterday was my best day in ages. I overdid and am paying for it today and it was absolutely worth it.
Anyway, HI from Tampa and I'm really happy to meet you all. The generous and giving supportive community here is a beautiful thing to find!
Shelby
My neuro has pretty much ruled out all the mimics but in order to get the official MS diagnosis, rather than just probable MS, she had scheduled me for an LP and evoked potentials. Just heard from the insurance company on Friday that my copay for the LP is more than a week's worth of pay so I won't be doing that. We'll see what the out-of-pocket for the BAER, SSER and VEP is and then I'll decide about that. (I'm almost kind of glad that the LP is a no-go, honestly, there was a 50% chance that the doctor doing it would be the one on whose table my husband died and that freaks me out a little.)
So, after a lot of research here and in some medical journals, I'm cleaning up my diet, losing weight (11 lbs so far; I packed on pounds after Rich died), adding D3 (doctor recommended as my level was 29), acetyl L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. I'm working exercise into the mix as well to keep strong as much as I can.
I'd like to have the definitive diagnosis but there's a limit as to how much time and money I can spend to get there. I think the things I'm doing are helping; yesterday was my best day in ages. I overdid and am paying for it today and it was absolutely worth it.
Anyway, HI from Tampa and I'm really happy to meet you all. The generous and giving supportive community here is a beautiful thing to find!
Shelby
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