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Have you been here and can offer thoughts please?

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    Have you been here and can offer thoughts please?

    Hi, had my appt with the neuro and some things were OK and some things not so much.

    Went to teaching/research hospital so I got the doctor who is still learning see me first.

    She took a history, I gave her a copy of my sx notes which I told her she was welcome to have as I need them as I often forget when I’m in an appt what and when stuff has happened to me. While taking my history she asked me when a certain sx happened and I said that I couldn’t remember and then I blanked.

    She snapped at me when I said I needed to get my notes out. I faced her and bluntly stated that right now my mind is blank and I explained three possible reasons why my mind may be blank. I then took the time to take out my notes and reviewed them so I could tell her when a certain symptom started.

    She also asked me what I thought was wrong with me and I started to say that my GP has always thought it was MS and then she snapped at me again and said, no I want you to tell me what you think is wrong with you. So I said that I have clearly been living with neurological problems that come and go for many years.

    She did some neuro testing. I couldn’t lift my thigh muscles off the examination table to push up her hands. She said push up. My husband finally said “she is!” And the doctor said oh.

    She also had me try and track an object or light (sorry can’t remember) and it was painful using my left eye and so I kept rolling my head and pulling my head away. I had to pretend to open a doorknob and my left hand was all weird. I said to my husband what the heck is this?

    Then she left for a while and returned with the specialist. The neuro told me that what I have is not degenerative.

    She didn’t look at my MRIs and she said you have no lesions. I corrected her and said that my second last one had lesions. She decided to just take what she called the bias of the person who originally read it on my more recent report.

    She had notes on the computer from my last neuro who said it was all in my head.

    I had to stop her at one point and ask her for confirmation if she was just looking at me from a movement disorders point of view or if she was looking at my whole history. She was basically focussing on my gait/walk and so my headaches and all other stuff was not being considered.

    She asked if she could keep the copy of my video of me walking and using stairs as she wanted to get the opinion of some other doctors and those that are in training and I agreed as she said that someone else may have an idea of what was going on with my walk/gait.

    She said that she is going to consider genetic testing for something that she didn’t name but would think about it first.

    She also said I could have a rare form of a disorder that is brought on by exercise. However, she was not happy with my walk/gait and said that I need to start exercising. She doesn’t want me to walk.

    She wants me to do yoga or use those stair climbing things and I balked because I told her that exercise is one of my triggers.

    She was concerned that if I don’t exercise that I wouldn’t be able to walk more than two block again or I could get worse. But I had to pry the reason why she wanted me to exercise out of her.

    I told her that exercise can leave me with deep bone pain for three weeks and without adequate pain control leaving me in agony and crying for weeks on end.

    I said I wasn’t adverse to exercise I just needed her to understand that I was physically fit and slender when I first went to the doctor about my legs hurting many years ago. I’ve tried exercising since and I even used a stationary bike but because I leaned forward on it while pedalling I ended up in a recliner for seven weeks with TMJ or TN - they’re not sure which.

    I listened to her tell me that she’s seen psychogenic illness similar to how I present in many people before me. So once again it could be the neuros vs the psychs.

    I told her that I had overdone it on the weekend and so I was a bit worse than usual. She had me walk. She had me walk backwards and much to my surprise I walk with a wide, weird backwards movement.

    She had me run and my arms did the bionic man thing, my feet were trying to get going and my legs weren’t getting the message. I can’t run.

    She tried to pull me backwards by standing behind me and pulling me from the front of my shoulders. I stepped back a couple of times and got a bit shaky the second and third time because it’s like having someone say Boo! behind you. Didn’t like that feeling.

    I’m to see her again in a few months. I’m to see a neuro PT to help figure out what exercise will work for me but need to discuss my problems with my GP about this because he knows my history of exercise and pain.

    The next day my company said they’re cancelling my benefits and so now I can’t afford a neuro PT. Great.
    Take care,
    swingingwillow
    Limbo lander on hold with a fast busy signal...

    #2
    So sorry to hear about your benefits being cancelled. This is quite typical. Many have experience paying into a plan their entire working life and not using it. When the time comes to rely on such benefits, for whatever reason, your plan is cancelled or withdrawn. I strongly suggest you seek legal advice. This is not right and the insurere is counting on you not fighting back.

    Push hard and do not let go.

    Comment


      #3
      Swinging,

      RUN, don't walk to a DIFFERENT Neuro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      The things that you shared with us (that she said and did) are UNEXCUSABLE!!!)
      Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

      Comment


        #4
        I agree with both cadiman and fishead!!

        Comment


          #5
          Ditto, I agree with the opinions above Dale
          Dale in NC, dx'ed 2000, now SPMS

          Comment


            #6
            Me too! You had awful treatment!

            Sara

            Comment


              #7
              Your gait does sound weird. It would be good to get evaluated by PT. It doesn't sound like a MS gait. The test that the MS specialist did (pulling your shoulders without you knowing when) is called a modified Romberg. If you had CNS damage you would have fallen into her. The fact that you could take steps back makes it a negative test. Meaning you have no CNS damage or ear damage according to that test. It also shows your balance it intact.

              Since you are at a university hospital, you can apply for charity care. Check into it at patient accounts. They will pay for all of your bills that are done at that facility. You just have to explain that your insurance was canceled.

              Did you have lesions or not on your MRI? What did the report say?

              Take care
              Lisa
              Moderation Team
              Disabled RN with MS for 14 years
              SPMS EDSS 7.5 Wheelchair (but a racing one)
              Tysabri

              Comment


                #8
                Thank you everyone for your very nice words.

                I am taking a break from all of this stuff. My company decided to end my benefits knowing that I'm sick - I have actual mental health dx.

                As for the ins co I am reviewing with my GP along with my husband what makes sense for us next.

                Not only do I have to care of my physical self but I have to ensure that I don't do more harm to my mental health.

                So I am taking a v short break and will make a decision at the end of this month in terms of what is best for me to do in moving forward.
                Take care,
                swingingwillow
                Limbo lander on hold with a fast busy signal...

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by 22cyclist View Post
                  Your gait does sound weird. It would be good to get evaluated by PT. It doesn't sound like a MS gait. The test that the MS specialist did (pulling your shoulders without you knowing when) is called a modified Romberg. If you had CNS damage you would have fallen into her. The fact that you could take steps back makes it a negative test. Meaning you have no CNS damage or ear damage according to that test. It also shows your balance it intact.

                  Since you are at a university hospital, you can apply for charity care. Check into it at patient accounts. They will pay for all of your bills that are done at that facility. You just have to explain that your insurance was canceled.

                  Did you have lesions or not on your MRI? What did the report say?

                  Take care
                  Lisa
                  Moderation Team
                  Hi Lisa,

                  I live in the great white north eh? And most of our healthcare stuff is covered with the exception of PT and so I have to have some kind of benefits to pay for that. I don't have any right now and will discuss this with my GP.

                  The second last MRI I had on brain and lumbar spine said that the MR of my brain "...A few tiny nonspecific white matter lesions in both hemispheres..."

                  Let me speak to that as the second last neuro had it on his computer screen and I could see a white matter lesion the size of my nail but more oval and he said it was likely from a migraine which at the time I had never experienced.

                  What the second last neuro could not speak to were the ."..Some Schmorll's nodes at the lower thoracic levels..."

                  The latest neuro I said stated that all of my MRIs were fine that I've had. So that means the MRIs that I had of my cervical and thoracic spine done eight years ago are still relevant to her I guess.

                  I'm thinking I need someone to have a good look at the whole brain and spine.

                  The last MRI of my brain said that my brain was unremarkable. According to the neuro the radiologist would have had their own bias on whether or not to comment on lesions that we have that we get with age.

                  Please let me tell you that I have never had my sx taken seriously. The first MS specialist I saw accused me of malingering, the next one said that my software wasn't working properly, and on and on.

                  I have yet to have a neuro watch me and MRI my entire brain and spine properly. Given that it's been many years that I've had a full MRI of my spine I'm thinking that I need one or two before psychogenic can be brought up.

                  Thanks for asking!
                  Take care,
                  swingingwillow
                  Limbo lander on hold with a fast busy signal...

                  Comment


                    #10
                    What does the following mean to you please? It's on the report from a neuro.

                    "...this is a functional deficit of non-neurological origin..."

                    Does this mean that I have a real physical deficit that is not neurological, or does this mean it's psychogenic? It refers to me dragging my right foot.

                    My GP thought at first that they believed that I have something physically wrong with me until I pointed out that the word functional means psychogenic. However, now I am unsure because of the use of the word in the phrase!

                    Please feel free to let me know what your interpretation is please.
                    Take care,
                    swingingwillow
                    Limbo lander on hold with a fast busy signal...

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Um. Never mind!

                      I just called a couple of doctors, a friend and my GP and we talked about this statement not saying that it's psychogenic.

                      The word functional is being used in the truest sense in terms of medical jargon and although it is often used to describe a psychogenic gait, in this case because of the wording of the phrase it means that my leg is mucked up and they don't know why but that it's not neurological.

                      GP is sending me to another neuro and is ordering me more neurological testing however. Bless my GPs heart for having so much patience with me.

                      OK now I feel like a nutbar.
                      Take care,
                      swingingwillow
                      Limbo lander on hold with a fast busy signal...

                      Comment


                        #12
                        When I was finally diagnosed I went to UT SW MS Clinical program. The doc I saw asked me tons of questions, when, where etc. She ran me through the ringer, but before she would even state MS or otherwise she wanted a full panel of testing done on me.

                        She explained that there are so many things that can mimic what I was experiencing and she would not even begin to say what I had until she had a full battery of tests ran on me, including cardiac work up.

                        Once the testing was done, then she told me it was MS.
                        I know you might not be happy with the original doctor, but it seemed like the specialist was wanting to get opinions on what is going on.

                        Comment

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