I have been getting some very interest comments from Ruby over on my Spinal MRI blog entry. I first made the mistake of calling my highly educated doctors “dudes”. I didn’t realize at the time that some anonymous internet person was diagnosing me and that I should reply in a highly educated way. Ruby apparently thinks I am not sick enough to have MS, they said “when u have MS you are really SICK”. Apparently having tingly legs/arms for 8 weeks at a time is ‘normal’ and not relapse. I wonder what going blind in one eye is considered.
Anyway, I think I have done a pretty good job of verifying everything my doctors have said. First, I saw an eye doctor that said MS. Then I saw an Neuro-Ophthalmologist who said MS after seeing an MRI with enhancing and non-enhancing lesions. Then i saw a second opinion Neuro who agreed with the findings of the first MRI. He also ordered a lot of blood work which all came out normal and a spinal MRI which also showed lesions. The radiologist also agreed with everyone.
I didn’t wish to have MS. I wasn’t searching for answers to my (lack) of health problems. I didn’t go to the doctor saying ITS MS! Instead, I went blind one day, asked a coworker the next day about what I should do, went to the eye doctor and a week later I was diagnosed. I just sort of assumed the eye doctor would give me a pill to take. Thats what 29 year olds think…. sadly there is no pill.
And to Ruby, I am glad you are educating people that MS might not be MS but at some point… you have to let the doctors decide that. I am normally the last person in the world to say such a thing but I say it with great caution. Everything your doctor says, you need to verify yourself. Google is an amazing tool.
Who feels sick today? I feel ok… maybe it’s not MS!
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11 responses so far ↓
1 Abby // Oct 21, 2008 at 5:36 am
I’m not feeling “sick” today, but I can’t feel my right arm and hand, and both feet are partially numb and tingly, and on my left hand the pinkie and ring fingers are numb, along with part of my left arm. Everytime I move my head I get shocks throughout my whole body. And these are just some of the symptoms I’ve been dealing with for three months. My MRI’s show lesions in both my brain and spine. My spinal tap fluid confirmed the MS diagnosis. But it probably isn’t MS.
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ninareply on October 22nd, 2008 8:35 pm
Probably not… at least on the internet.
Although, I would prefer if I had lesions in just one of the two. Hmm, brain or spine. I think I would pick the brain.
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2 Patti // Oct 21, 2008 at 7:14 am
You know what???? I bet I don’t have it either. I mean today I can walk but my right hand and arm are weird (my imagination?) and have been for weeks. My MRI was very conclusive with lesions everywhere but hey they make mistakes sometimes – maybe they weren’t lesions but just showing up how smart I am. The spinal tap caused me not to walk for around 10 years but maybe it was just my imagination and I could really walk just was feeling lazy for that 10 years and didn’t want to walk when I could ride. So it probably isn’t MS.
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ninareply on October 22nd, 2008 8:33 pm
Yeah, probably not. I am just glad I didn’t have the LP. It scares me to have a needle in my back plus I don’t think they really talk about the huge risks involved.
Internet doctors are the best… yay for no MS!
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3 Nadja Tizer // Oct 21, 2008 at 9:00 am
I feel pretty good today. I even stood on my head. Guess the lesions on my brain aren’t MS either. In the land of Denial everything is A-Ok and I just imagined the vertigo, nerve pulses, anxiety, depression and tilting world.
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ninareply on October 22nd, 2008 8:35 pm
Yoga! I could not do the inverted moves at all. I bow to you. Chubby girls shouldn’t be upside down.
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4 Serina C. // Oct 22, 2008 at 11:07 am
Do I feel Sick?..no not today.., Do I feel Altered?.. yes.. and that is consistantly how it has been for me since December of last year.
I think being altered is the real question, as it is such a fluid disease that changes like the tide.
I was diagnosed with MS this past March after seeing a regular doctor, seeing a chiropractor (thinking it was a pinched nerve – who told me I should have an MRI done when things didn’t get better), then two rounds of MRI’s, blood tests, and a finally a spinal tap. All gave me yes answer for MS. I’m lucky in that I’m not in bad shape right now, just have altered sensations that don’t go away, just vary in their intensity. There are a lot of things it could have been, but I checked those out before I was willing to accept the MS diagnosis. I totally agree, At some point, you have to get to the level of “What to do now” instead of trying to explain away symptoms.
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ninareply on October 22nd, 2008 8:37 pm
I like how you put it. I feel altered also. I wonder if the way I react to certain things is MS. I skip words when I talk and wonder if thats MS. I slur works sometimes and wonder if that is tequlia er I mean MS.
(I don’t drink, much.)
I am lucky to not have a lot of problems right now and I will hope for the best. I am also new to the MS world like you. I was diagnosed in May after a blindness thing in my right eye. It sucks.
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5 Rae // Oct 24, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Don’t let anyone rile you about things you already know about yourself. Opinions are like rectums. Everybody’s got em, and they usually stink.
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6 punkrockfairy // Oct 26, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Dude!
Linked to your blog from Nadja’s and I dig it. Added it to my list of regular reads.
BTW, I call my neuro “Dude” all the time and he’s from MIT. Dude knows for sure that I have MS, and suggests that I get more tattoos as different parts of my body go numb. Hows that for handy advice from a doctor dude?!
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ninareply on October 26th, 2008 10:14 pm
I think that is excellent advice from a doctor dude. I have always wanted a killer reason to get a tattoo and that is certainly a good one!
Glad you made it over here. I added your blog to my regular read list also.
I use dude to describe almost everyone.
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