Chicken Or The Egg

Do you remember when your symptoms first started and what they were?  Most of us had symptoms years before being diagnosed and did not realize they were the onset of MS.

I remember when I was quite young and had terrible problems with my legs jerking and hurting.  My head would pound and it would seem like I was being shocked all over my body.  One of the doctors who examined me at that time was very perplexed by these things.  Most of the time, the problems were just dismissed.  My grandmother used to rub my legs with alcohol and tell me I was having “growing pains.”  I believed her, but wondered if that was what it was, why I was not six feet tall!

Many MS patients have symptoms from a very young age and get an MS diagnosis at that time.  Many more of us go so long and have a variety of doctors who try to find out what is wrong with us.  Even after they suspect MS, some still do not want to commit to a diagnosis and continue to try to find some other cause for our problems.  I have often wondered why they are so reluctant to diagnosis MS when the symptoms are so obvious and nothing else “fits”.

A friend of ours had a stroke a couple of weeks ago.  She is only in her mid-fifties and seems healthy.  She was at a church function and one side went numb and she just fell to the floor.  When she was taken to the hospital, they immediately treated her for her stroke symptoms and started a barrage of tests.  When the doctor came in to talk with her the next morning, he told her they had ruled out MS.  She was astounded that it was even an option.

I guess I am wondering how people get their doctors to really talk with them and take into consideration all they go through.  As I have said before, I have only had one neurologist who was attentive and really tried to help me.  It broke my heart when he moved out of state.  I am going to a new neurologist in January and hope that he is better than the one I have had this past year.

I don’t think it is just me that is unhappy with my doctor.  There are so many online patients who seem to have a problem with their doctor taking them seriously.  I am sure that most doctors have been taught that certain symptoms mean certain diseases.  Unfortunately, MS does not always fit into that little box that they want to put it in. 

Until we can make the medical community understand that MS is all over the map with symptoms, some of us will just have to suffer needlessly and go untreated.  It is really sad.

(I have read so much about people being sued for using pictures from the Web that I am afraid to do so now.  Unless it is one that I have taken myself, I don’t guess I will have a picture to go with my blog.  I really liked putting a picture with it……..made it so much prettier….. L)