Answering questions from your NL and NS

[Autumn55]

What are the normal questions that the NL and NS will ask you about your symptoms?

After my last appointment I have had more time to think about all the questions I was asked and realized I answered many of them wrong!  I'm anxious for my next appointment.  I don't know about the rest of you but my brain seems slow and forgetful these days!

She asked me things like:
*Have you lost strength?*
*Are you clumsy?*

I can't really remember any more right now, but just those two have given me lots to think about!  At the time I answered no to the both of them.  I have always been physically strong so I though nothing of the strength I have lost.  But I recall about a year and a half ago for the first time in my life having to ask a man for help lifting a 50lb bag of concrete.  I was totally mortified but just thought *I should start working out more*
During the past 6 months or so, on many occasions I've had to ask my husband to open many bottles and jars for me.  Sometimes I succeed, but after much struggle with bottle openers, putting cloth over it, warm water, everything I can think of.  Sometimes I just put it away and get something else, or feed my baby cereal instead of bottled foods.  My husband would just laugh at me and ask *What's wrong with you these days?*  But not really reading too much into it.  

And I drop so much stuff!  I break a dish or ornament almost every day, walk into tables, walls... I cut open my lip this morning trying to catch the phone after dropping it, lol and I find I have a hard time writing with a pen, so I bought a printer so I could type instead.  I'm beginning to realize how much I've been accommodating my symptoms without even realizing it at the time!!

Ok, I realize how long this has gotten, but I just though it would be helpful for some of you  more experienced to tell me and other newbies what kind of questions to expect so we can prepare for or appointments better.
Thanks all! :)

[selmaS]

  Well u would think so, but I find that the more I am doing or thinking about is when I tend to lose my balance...most times at night or in a darken room, more so then a lite one....

I know I made this observation b4 as long as I focused I was ok, or on a flat surface.,..it is uneven surfaces that really get me.

Until I had my one drop attack  with injuries, I really didn't think I was all that bad either.......

  Do not let them intimidate u...or confuse u further....keep a journal of ur symptoms or just things u notice that make u feel different....

   "selma"

[Autumn55]

Thanks :)
I totally agree with what you say about the little walking test they do in the office.  when they do things like that to me I begin to think *ok, I can't be that bad if I can do this stuff.  You'd have to be really messed up to fall walking 4 steps!*

But your mind/body should be able to function better than that right?  I mean you should be able to do two things at once?!

[selmaS]

  Hi...knowing what is a symptom is diff for many as it develops over a period of time and we do not notice...we compensate for many things we can and avoid others...and when asked it just never occurs to us.....

  When I was asked if I had pain when straining,....I did not associate it with my BM's...sorry, call me stupid but since I always had the pain from little on up I considered it "normal" and assumed everyone had it...so, yeah it is hard to answer these questions correctly.

  Even the little walk in the office to check us for balance is not right as we are very aware of how we are walking and will not lose balance in a small limited space where we r concentrating on each step, it is when I have many things on my mind and I have much to do that I fall all over....but, a good Dr should know this and listen to what we r saying.


Hang in there : )

   "selma"

[Autumn55]

I know what you mean!  I'm trying to get into the habit of making a few notes on a post-it for appointments.  I started making a few notes to myself over the past few months too, so I can see the difference in symptoms instead of trying to recall them.

[Autumn55]

Thanks,
I'm always afraid of bombarding my Dr's with too much information, so I usually hold back.  I'm not a fan of being on pills, I prefer to find a solution instead.  
I will let her know more about my symptoms when I go back for sure, I didn't really give her anything to go on before, because I really did think it was just the norm since getting used to it all.
I've been raised to hide my pain, so I hide it from doctors as well.  When my NL said to me that I'm lucky that I'm not in any pain, I was kind of hurt... How did I give her the impression that I'm not in any pain?  When I described my *pains* to her, was I supposed to wince or something? lol

[jenshead]

One of the best things I ever did was write EVERYTHING down.  Symptoms, common or uncommon, questions, test results, etc.  Journal it.  Then the day before your dr appointment, read through what you have written and decide which things are important to bring up to your dr and write those specific things down on a paper you take with you.

If you're like the rest of us, you'll forget your discovery 5 minutes after you thought of it, so having a journal can be nice :)

[zygy2]

I would just be honest at the next appointment and just laugh and tell them that once you thought about the questions you realized that you were dealing with these issues and had just accepted them as the new norm.  A lot of the Chiari symptoms sneak up on you slowly so you adjust to things and don't really see the whole picture.  The NS/NL will be trying to find that information.  If things don't go crazy all at once it can be hard to see the changes.  

I still like to say that you want to let the NS/NL figure things out so that they don't think you are crazy.  If you do like to make lists or a journal don't overwhelm the Doctor or you will find yourself on Pills!!!  You want to find the real symptoms that you think are bothering your quality of life and are most likely related to your condition.  Doctors are there to ask the questions and figure things out and hopefully that is what they do :)  Once you finally find someone to listen you will feel like you need to tell them everything as fast as you can but from what I have noticed they need to see the biggest items and focus on that. Obviously there can be many things going on and they will not be able to solve every issue.  For how many people on here have been made to feel crazy because of their symptom list, it just seems to make sense that we should proceed slowly with the most important information first.