I need help developing a symptom checklist

[MissTalonV]

Hi,
I've been reading online about MS. And I have a lot of the symptoms but it's really hard for me to get together a printable checklist of systems that I could bring to my doctor.

Like 1 that you can look at and check and write down beside it what/when/how long etc.

A complete list of systems and possible systems of it.

I don't know if something like that is available for someone who is wanting to get checked and has trouble remembering things. Especially when put on the spot.

Is there anything like that around? I'm too exhausted and brain foggy to make one myself.

Any help would be great.
Thank you

[HVAC]

Make a detailed day to day symptom check list for yourself. Make a one page or less list for your doctor or most likely he will not read it. Usually on the intake form they will ask you about symptoms.May be MS for dummies or something on line has a check list for you to follow.

I would put
Double vision permanent since 1965
Left Side weakness since childhood permanent
Cognitive problems permanent since 1968
Foot drag  permanent since 2007
Muscle spasms in legs and arms permanent since 2009
Weakness in legs permanent since 2007
Biting my tongue several times a day on the left permanent 2009

I have documented MS since childhood. Because I had symptoms going back so far it took years to be diagnosed. I also have PPMS which can have permanent symptoms.

[aspen2]

A symptom checklist is probably not the best idea, since symptoms of ms overlap with symptoms of a lot of other things.  Also many doctors are very suspicious of anyone who has gone online and printed out an "ms symptom" list.  Truth.

I understand the exhausted and foggy, for sure.  One of the things your gp should be doing first is sending you for a sleep study.  Also, check vitamin and mineral levels via bloodwork.  (Especially B12, D, and magnesium).  I do have ms, but my diagnosis was muddied by symptoms I had due to a severe magnesium deficiency -- the symptom was not a central nervous system issue so it was a "red flag" away from an MS diagnosis.

If you take medications, the side effects from those can also mimic neurological disease.  So do thyroid imbalances.  So many other possibilities.  Because there are hundreds of ms mimics, it very well may not be ms.

Just write your personal experience with odd things, when and how long.

If symptoms are continuous or all over it reduces the chances of it being ms -- all good information for your doctor.

Use your own words when describing symptoms to the doctor rather than language picked up from message boards or ms sites.  Again, that raises suspicion.  I used a term my GP gave me, and my neurologist raised his eyebrows and made a big deal of it in the report.

I'm sorry you are having troubling issues and I hope your answers aren't too long in coming!