Do you think they will do an MRI at the ER if I cant walk?

[loveshinesthru]

About a month ago, my arms and my legs started feeling heavy and weak, as of friday I can barely stand let alone walk.

I want to go to the ER and get an MRI done as we dont have insurance and cant afford to pay out of pocket to get a diagnosis. Back in 98 is when I first had funny symptoms in my legs and it passed. Around that same time I would smell smells that werent there.. In 2003 I had issues with my eyes darting and not being able read very well due it and prob some other issues I cant remember. In 2004 I started having muscle twitches and feeling like I was weak, I Dont remember all the symptoms then either but they did do an mri and evoked potentials? test. I think the evoked potentials test showed some abnormality. The MRI only showed 1 old lesion, so they could not diagnose me at the time.

For the last year IVe felt dizzy on and off. My b12 was a little low and IVe been taking 10,000-20,000mcg of methyl b12 a day as i had numb fingers and lost my sense of smell. In may my shoulder started hurting. july or august or maybe even june I lost my sense of smell. It has come back a little bit with the b12 supp but not to what it was. I cant even smell gas that my friend spilled on herself at the gas station. In october I was so tired I couldnt get out of bed til 6pm my normal time of waking is 12-1pm. during this period, I had a couple episodes where I Couldnt move or talk and my hubby went to bed and left me sitting on the couch but i couldnt even pick up my phone to text him that i needed to get up.

Since this episode started, i noticed the weakness and muscle twitching first. then i started having problems swallowing. Ive also had a terrible time remembering words, talking and remembering things. ive had chest pain under my ribs, blurry vision, muscle aches, unable to walk, almost unable to stand, arms are getting weaker, the room sometimes feels like its spinning, my hands are shaky, Iwoke up once and my leg felt like it was vibrating but I couldnt tell exactly where it was coming from, my legs feel like they dont want to relax, I fell down once when trying to sit on the couch as my little dog jumped up behind me and I couldnt react, I had been relatively migraine free but they have increased since end of december, not sure if its pre menopause or related to this. I have been peeing more lately too.

I live in Texas and Im not sure if the ER will do an Mri with my symptoms? I mean they should if I Cant walk right?? Im running out of time too if I do have lesions i read that new ones are only visible for 40 days. Im about 30 days out from onset. Each day I seem to get worse.

[Kimba22]

Hi loveshinesthru,

There are charity programs for those that qualify. https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov...health-care-qa.

Make sure you don't choose a for profit hospital, but please go to the ER ASAP. You need medical care to determine what is wrong, and receive appropriate treatment.

Best of luck

[loveshinesthru]

I dont qualify I make too much money.

[jreagan70]

I live in Texas and Im not sure if the ER will do an Mri with my symptoms? I mean they should if I Cant walk right??

It's hard to say. It could go either way. The emergency room is for emergencies, and if you've already waited a month to come in, the ER docs are going to know it isn't an emergency. Even if you can't walk. The ER is not intended for working up years-long conditions as if they were emergencies, so they may not do an MRI and they may not work you up for a chronic condition.

ER staff is also used to people waiting for a condition to become urgent so they can be treated in the ER when they can't pay or have no intention of paying, assuming that they'll get worked up, diagnosed, and treated no matter what. But that isn't always the case. ERs are expected to care for emergencies or rule them out. They aren't required to do anything and everything for anything and everything that comes in, and the care isn't free just because someone can't or won't pay at the time. Texas state law may affect some of the details, but ER visits aren't complete medical care and they aren't free.

Suppose the ER does the MRI that you can't pay for and then recommends that you be hospitalized for a full workup. Then what are you going to do? By the time you're in the ER, it's too late to be figuring out what you want and developing a plan for what you're going to do.

Im running out of time too if I do have lesions i read that new ones are only visible for 40 days. Im about 30 days out from onset. Each day I seem to get worse.

It sounds like you misunderstood what you read about new lesions. New, actively inflamed lesions "enhance" with contrast dye for about 6 weeks. After that, they're still visible. They've just lost the quality that differentiates new lesions from old ones. But they're still visible, so there's no urgency on the timing if your only goal is to be sure any new lesions are seen.

If you don't have insurance coverage for your MRIs, it's a pretty sure bet that -- if the ER does an MRI for you -- it won't be a full brain and spinal series with and without contrast. That can be about $1,000 even with medical insurance. You may get one brain MRI without contrast, which is the minimum for acquiring enough information to definitively rule out an emergency like a stroke or a tumor and look for brain abnormalities that could indicate MS lesions.

And no matter how characteristic an MRI may look for MS, MS isn't diagnosed by MRI alone. There isn't enough information available in an ER setting to meet the diagnostic criteria for MS. So even if the neurologist on call wants to diagnose you based on your MRI, it's technically not by the book. There's still other testing and analysis needed, which won't be done in the ER.

You've already said that you can't pay for a diagnosis, which includes not being able to pay for a doctor to manage your case. So if and when you get an MRI, that still isn't a diagnosis and it still isn't medical care. Without a proper diagnosis and without medical care, what's your goal in getting the MRI now? What do you plan to do with the MRI?

You may only get CAT scans, which can identify or rule out tumors. Without medical care, what do you plan to do with CAT scans, particularly if they don't show anything abnormal?

Of course you should get medical care, even if your only entrance into the system is through the ER. But you've put yourself at a disadvantage by hanging ALL your hopes on an MRI that may or may not get done, maybe having unrealistic expectations, and then having no plan for what to do next.

So before you go to the ER, know in advance exactly what you want, what you're willing to settle for, what you're willing to do to get it, and how you're going to live with the consequences of your choices -- the ones you're already made and the new ones you'll need to make.