Agate, in my opinion both Cat and Sunshine had smart Doctors. I did not. What I put on that list did not include the times I stood up and told him that I knew it looked like I was standing still, but my body felt like it was swaying, like I had just come off a long boat ride. It did not include all the times I kept telling him I had tingling and burning all the time in my feet and up my legs and sometimes in my hands. There were many other things over that 25 years. However, he was an Internist and I would not have expected him to diagnose MS, but I would have thought that with his training he would spot enough neurological symptoms to send me to a Neurologist. He told me numerous times that there couldn't be anything serious wrong with me that "I was the perfect picture of health".
Before the Neurologist that diagnosed me I went to see another neurologist in the practice where I go now. Again, no records. However, the above Internist had said that I probably had peripheral neuropathy. So that is what I told him I had. He did a nerve conduction test and told me I had the nerves of a 30 year old. But in a later visit said that I did have peripheral neuropathy. That is when I went to the Doctor who diagnosed me. Just simply wiser and cared enough to look further, because when I told him I had peripheral neuropathy he just said well we will see, first lets do an exam. Then he said you might just have a pinched nerve, lets do an MRI and that was it. He just cared enough to look further and wise enough not to take another doctors diagnosis. Of course, he continued to do many test, but there really was not any doubt in his mind. He wanted to prove it to me.
I am glad when others like Cat and Sunshine have gone to Doctors who listened and looked with a trained eye and got a fairly quick diagnosis. I had a friend in a live support group that I use to attend who went to a Dermatologist who was a company doctor where she worked. She just started talking to him and after that one visit he sent her to a Neurologist, although she had very few symptoms of MS. He told her later that she said something that rung a bell with him. She was diagnosed two weeks before she was scheduled to get a pink slip and was able to get long term disability. She told me that she just did not know what she would have done if she had not been able to get that.
The Doctors I went to all had good reputations in high end practices, but as we have discussed so many times there are doctors and there are doctors, just as with any profession.
Before the Neurologist that diagnosed me I went to see another neurologist in the practice where I go now. Again, no records. However, the above Internist had said that I probably had peripheral neuropathy. So that is what I told him I had. He did a nerve conduction test and told me I had the nerves of a 30 year old. But in a later visit said that I did have peripheral neuropathy. That is when I went to the Doctor who diagnosed me. Just simply wiser and cared enough to look further, because when I told him I had peripheral neuropathy he just said well we will see, first lets do an exam. Then he said you might just have a pinched nerve, lets do an MRI and that was it. He just cared enough to look further and wise enough not to take another doctors diagnosis. Of course, he continued to do many test, but there really was not any doubt in his mind. He wanted to prove it to me.
I am glad when others like Cat and Sunshine have gone to Doctors who listened and looked with a trained eye and got a fairly quick diagnosis. I had a friend in a live support group that I use to attend who went to a Dermatologist who was a company doctor where she worked. She just started talking to him and after that one visit he sent her to a Neurologist, although she had very few symptoms of MS. He told her later that she said something that rung a bell with him. She was diagnosed two weeks before she was scheduled to get a pink slip and was able to get long term disability. She told me that she just did not know what she would have done if she had not been able to get that.
The Doctors I went to all had good reputations in high end practices, but as we have discussed so many times there are doctors and there are doctors, just as with any profession.
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