When to call the doctor

[LATW]

Hi,
When should I call my doctor about symptoms?  I know to call when something stops working but what about old issues that reappear?

I was in the hospital for 5 days on IVSM and after I came home my vision was pretty good for several weeks.  

Now I am back to having problems and it is driving me nuts.  I call to let the doctor know whenever things start going on.

There are smaller things like some numbness in my heel and the upper part of my foot, but my vision issue does not seem so small to me.

I do not want him to think I panic about everything, but it is difficult.

At my appointments I will tell him some of the smaller things and he says, "You have MS."

Ok, I know that! Maybe I have no accepted it as much as I think.  I am doing well considering wat things could be like!

But I am not what I used to be.  Maybe thaht is the issue, I just have no accepted it and it really bothers me.

ugh......

LA  dx'd 2008  Tysabri since Nov 2010

[Teiper]

I like what Alex said too hun.   That's what they are there for....if you are disturbed enough about it, call.  If they feel it's something they need to see you for they will.  Otherwise they should at least have someone there to talk to you and get you off the ledge.  What is a good MS doctor if he/she doesn't have a team to address ALL the issues we face with this disease?  Are some of them psychogenic, sure.  But there's the emotional psychological aspects of this monster that also need to be treated.   They need to treat the WHOLE person, not just the missing myelin.   That support will reduce your stress and ultimately may help reduce your symtoms.    And you deserve the consideration.  

[LATW]

Thanks everyone.  It is frustrating!!
I know my doctor can not take the MS away.  Wish he could!

LA  dx'd 2008 Tysabri since Dec 2010

[essdipity]

Well for me, I'm likely to call only when I think there's something they can do about it. So from that standpoint, I wouldn't call with what Lisa just described. Of course, I have a diagnosis, and that makes a big difference.

'Something they can do about it' might mean a prescription, referral to another specialist, set up for some kind of test, and so on.

If I were in acute distress I'd call anyway, just to have it on record. I'd be unlikely to go to an ER because basically they don't do much. There are exceptions to this, naturally, but that's my general approach.

It's especially hard if symptoms are subjective--fatigue, dizziness, paresthesias, even pain. In the final analysis I guess each occasion has to be evaluated individually. So just in thinking about and writing this I have contradicted my opening sentence. Not much help to anybody, I'm afraid!

ess

[LisaJF]

This is a good topic.  I myself have trouble when to call the doctor.  This morning I was quite confused, walking aimlessly and out of balance.  I couldn't get myself together enough to figure out what I wanted to do and made myself do more than I had to (go up and down the stairs multiple times) instead of grouping my things while I was upstairs.  It's hard to explain or that Im still a bit confused to explain it.

I thought about going to the ER and say, "Look at this, my feet are 3 feet apart, I drag my left leg, I have a spastic gait, I am twitching like a mofo (truncal and right arm), I had blurred vision the other night, I have confusion -- DO SOMETHING".  But I didn't.  I wanted to call my MS Specialist and let him know Im still the same way I was when he saw me last week, but when I saw him days ago he asked me how often I see my primary doctor (this is after he told me he wanted to prescribe me Effexor for something I don't believe I do not have -- yet) and I answered him, "Too much".  He then proceeded to ask, "You see her a lot?" I said, "Yes."  He did not ask me what is a "lot" to me.  Because if I see a doctor once in a year that's too much for me.  But I would say in the past 3 months I seen her twice (one for a fever/pneumonia) and just 2 weeks ago for return of muscle jerking and increased off balance (ataxia).  

So with that said, I am quite inhibited to call him and let him know that my symptoms are continuing to proceed on their path and are unrelenting because I'm afraid he is going to say its all psychogenic.  

So with that said, I'll keep my symptoms to myself and just "deal" with it since I don't have a diagnosis.

But for you, I'd do what everyone says here.

Lisa

[COBOB]

My doc says problems breathing or crushing chest pain, call Emergency Medical Services (911/999/000/112/etc.)  ON, loss of hearing or severe tinnitus, changes in smell, motor loss of part of a limb, severe spasticity (core, hug, etc.) are all reasons to call (him or the on call Neuro.)  Other things that are bothering me like strange sensations or loss of feeling should be able to wait for a normal daytime call.  

Bob

[Karen99]

Ditto to what Alex said!

[HVAC]

My rule of thumb is contact the Doctor if it concerns me and let them decide if concerns them. They can either make a note in my chart, call me back or make an appointment for me to be seen.

Alex

[LATW]

Thank you Deb.  I sometimes wonder if he thinks I complain about too many little things.  Like my foot is numb today.  I would not call him about that.
But it does seem like they would want to know though.....

[Deb61]

I would probably go ahead and call the doctor.  I know with my doctor, he regards the vision issues as really important.  He would want to know about this.