Background: I'm in limbo and haven't had a brain MRI in 2.5 years. The first was normal, almost. There was a possible lesion at the very base of it, an area that correlates with a lot of my symptoms, but a followup c-spine MRI on that area came back normal a few months later. I've had a VNG that showed lesions, a slightly abnormal EEG and a BAER that gave confusing results.
Everyone keeps telling me these symptoms are from migraines. I've pretty much given up on finding out what's wrong. I know it's not migraines and so do the local docs. Unfortunately, they can't diagnose me because nothing is showing up on the "objective" tests.
I had a followup with the local neuro, who actually writes down symptoms and dates, and let him know I've had these spots in my vision that can't be detected by a visual field test because they're the same size as the dots on the exam. A few months ago, there was a patch of 20 or 30 of them. A month later, there were maybe 50 or 60. Another month went by and there were around 80. Now there are a couple hundred of them. They're always there, and have been gradually getting worse over the course of the last few months.
He felt an MRI would be prudent. I tried to decline the test, reminding him that these MRIs never show anything and I'd rather not waste an MRI on something that isn't a major problem yet. He insisted, put in the order, the imaging center called and scheduled the appointment right away, then contacted me to let me know the insurance company denied it, requiring a lengthy appeal to have it reviewed a second time.
I'm not sure whether to pursue this or not. They're reasoning was that (after the office sent them my entire file, according to the gal who works with insurance there) my symptoms were common with migraines and tension headaches.
Here's the thing, and maybe I'm wrong, but as far as I'm aware, visual disturbances from headaches usually last about 30 minutes and disappear when the headache comes on. These have lasted for months. These docs who keep saying this is from migraines never ask how long these spots last, just if I have them. I've never heard of visual disturbances progressing over the course of months from any sort of headache.
So do I pursue this, or not? I'm sort of not interested, but if this neuro thinks it's a good idea, maybe I should. I'm just not that interested in putting up a fuss over a test right now.
Everyone keeps telling me these symptoms are from migraines. I've pretty much given up on finding out what's wrong. I know it's not migraines and so do the local docs. Unfortunately, they can't diagnose me because nothing is showing up on the "objective" tests.
I had a followup with the local neuro, who actually writes down symptoms and dates, and let him know I've had these spots in my vision that can't be detected by a visual field test because they're the same size as the dots on the exam. A few months ago, there was a patch of 20 or 30 of them. A month later, there were maybe 50 or 60. Another month went by and there were around 80. Now there are a couple hundred of them. They're always there, and have been gradually getting worse over the course of the last few months.
He felt an MRI would be prudent. I tried to decline the test, reminding him that these MRIs never show anything and I'd rather not waste an MRI on something that isn't a major problem yet. He insisted, put in the order, the imaging center called and scheduled the appointment right away, then contacted me to let me know the insurance company denied it, requiring a lengthy appeal to have it reviewed a second time.
I'm not sure whether to pursue this or not. They're reasoning was that (after the office sent them my entire file, according to the gal who works with insurance there) my symptoms were common with migraines and tension headaches.
Here's the thing, and maybe I'm wrong, but as far as I'm aware, visual disturbances from headaches usually last about 30 minutes and disappear when the headache comes on. These have lasted for months. These docs who keep saying this is from migraines never ask how long these spots last, just if I have them. I've never heard of visual disturbances progressing over the course of months from any sort of headache.
So do I pursue this, or not? I'm sort of not interested, but if this neuro thinks it's a good idea, maybe I should. I'm just not that interested in putting up a fuss over a test right now.
The lights on the test are all different sizes and brightnesses and they show at random and can be chosen to be certain distances apart so it can't be that ALL of them are exactly the same sizes as the spots in your vision. A couple of hundred spots have to show up somewhere!
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