Sorry to hear about your insurance troubles. Sure makes getting a diagnosis harder. It does sound like MS and the sooner you get on meds the better. Good luck with getting diagnosed. Keep coming back and update us. Welcome to your new home of friends. Karina
sorry about the caps... I am new to this site. Actually this is the first time I have even reached out to talk to anyone other than my family about this.
So hi, everyone!!!
Every spell that I have had over the last 2 years have come on very fast. . They , are usually spread out in months....The closest one together has been the last 2, which wereabout 3 months apart. and this last one lasted about a month.
I hardly ever have any headaches. Maybe once a month during the time of my period.
I do have alot of symptoms now that stay with me daily. Vertigo is a major issue.i can close my eyes and feel like i am spinning. Sometimes i find when i am just sitting that my head is kinda just moving back and forth , just barely enough to fell it... I have taken 2 very hard falls in the last 2 months. I guess from the balance issues..ER doc gave me antivert and Valium for that...
I have also been doing research in my family that i dont know that well, come to find out.. my grandfathers sister had MS. And her daughter has it today. So, it is in our family..IBut i read somewhere that it isn't genetic...
also, I wanted to ask. You know how I had said that my EMG test on my left side was abnormal. It was so bad the doctor thought his machine was broke. Well, I didn't think that this kind of test would relate to MS diagnosing. Can anyone tell me about that...
my newest symptoms are really weird. They are in the bottom of my hands and bottoms of my feet. It feels like a cross between electric skock or needles being poked in them....
I also experience alot of pain. Its weird. in my left shoulder blade around to my rib, right under my left breast..Hurts so bad....
when I squeeze with my left hand, I feel as though I am squeezing so hard, but, I am not hardly even squeezing... this weakness is so hard to understand where it is coming from... But only on my left side.....
sorry if alot of these questions are scattered, I am just trying to remeber as I go all that is going on, and try to add it...
thank you to all the people answering all of my questions, I really appreciate it....
Hi, I'm the local medical person on the forum. I read your post, though it was hard to read in all CAPS. My eyes won't track very well, so would you mind posting in regular when you answer? At first when you mentioned the first attack, it sounded like the symptoms came and went within a few hours. Even though these involved vision changes, weakness and numbness would be more consistent with a migraine. But later it sounded like the episodes lasted longer. Would you talk about that a little?
The later problems with vertigo, loss of sensation, the shoulder weakness and the limp, are very suggestive of MS. There are private insurances available. If you don't have insurance and the diagnosis "Suspect MS" is in your records it will be very, very hard to obtain. If there is anyway you can get some coverage before anyone puts this diagnosis down, try to do so. If the words are already on your records than so be it, or if you can't afford it, then so it goes.
Yes, as they told you above you need an MRI of your brain, C-spine and T-spine all done with and without contrast. You need to see a doc who will do a thorough neuro exam and most primary care docs should be able to. Otherwise you need to see a neurologist. On the MRI they need to look also for signs of attack on the optic nerves called Optic Neuritis - or have you already been diagnosed with that since you were given Solumedrol (that's the treatment). If you don't know get ALL of your medical records fromyou lod doctor and from all the ER visits. See what they say, in detail.
Our specialty here is helping orient everyone to what their options are and have to get the best care, with regard to working up neurologic things that suggest MS. I hope you stay around and join in!
Quix
They are right the MS Society (your local chapter) may be able to help with a diagnostic MRI.
You also might check with a local MS chapter. They sometimes provide financial assistance, but they may want you to be DX with MS first.
thank you to the kind people that responded to my questions. i will surely be checking into this information you all shared. thank you so much..
Lisa,
I'm sorry for what you're going through with your health and uncertainties right now. I'm also searching for a Dx.
You need a brain MRI w/wo contrast. Another option ~ I don't know if you qualify, but the MS Society of America has a "MRI Diagnostic Fund" that helps non-insured people with financial assistance to get an MRI.
Check out this URL. Maybe this can help you:
http://www.msaa.com/programs/mri_d.html
I wish you the best! Take care, Pat :)
Hi Lisa - I'm new to the forum, and really can't comment on your symptoms or the likelihood of MS, but I just want to pass on some information regarding insurance that I hope will help you. There is insurance you can buy privately, and at this point I don't know how expensive it is because I'm just checking into it myself. Anyway, it's called Critical Illness Insurance. It pays you a lump sum at the time of the diagnosis of a critical illness, such as MS, which you then use however you determine to best help with the cost of any future care. I don't know what the qualifications or disqualifications are for the insurance or anything, but it's worth checking into if you don't have a formal diagnosis from a doctor yet.
All the best to you both in terms of your symptoms, may they diminish greatly, and in terms of funding the care of whatever illness you may have.