I’m 36 years old and over the past 3 years I have been been experiencing a variety of symptoms that I am struggling to get any help from my GP practice with… i get the impression they think i’m either mad or a hypochondriac, it’s all very stressful
I hope you don’t mind if I just blurb and list my problems and then maybe you could give me some advice and let me know if you think these could be MS related or if i’m barking up the wrong tree…
tingling legs
altered gait
balance problems
joint stiffness & pain
occasional double vision and focus problems
weakness in my right arm & hand - I drop things!
Numbness in my feet
Need to pee alot
Using the wrong word for every day items & concentration problems
And last but by no means least … I’m tired, really tired!
I’m really sorry to ramble but I thought perhaps if I just made a list you might have some ideas on what I can do, where I might be able to get someone to listen to me without judgeing me and just saying I’m depressed! The low mood I get is because I’m scared and confused and don’t know where to turn…
I have those things except for the vision problems. I have arthritis and having had problems in my back for a long time, they are sending me for an MRI, so if it is MS then they will pick it up there. Can I ask of you are seeing the same dr about these problems? If so, then you need to change gp x
What do they actually say when you go to the doctor’s? I’m sure they don’t call you a hypochondriac to your face. What explanation do they offer, when you describe all these symptoms?
You could try one more time with them; make a list and be assertive. Tell them: “Look, all of this has been going on for years, and I really can’t accept it’s just normal. I want it looked into properly.” If that still doesn’t work, or you don’t feel comfortable taking such a forthright approach, I agree with Mummy3 the only way forward is going to be to change doctors, if not change surgeries altogether. Someone else might have a completely different tactic.
The only thing I will say in their defence is that if you have been to the doctor’s about all these things, but at different times, they may have treated each of them as a standalone incident - not particularly significant in itself. They don’t see what you do, that there’s been a long-running pattern of odd symptoms.
It would be nice to think GPs always review our records when we go in about something new, and actively look for signs it might be related to something we’ve reported in the past. But the reality, of course, is that most of them are far too busy, and only treat you for the specific thing you’ve gone in for. They don’t look to see if could be part of a wider pattern, going back years.
It may well be that your GP has never come face-to-face with the evidence you’re experiencing ALL these things, so they carry on treating each one as an incident on its own.
This document was written by a doctor about his diagnosis; yes they get it as well; http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/diagnosingms.html . As you can see it is far from unusual for a GP to dismiss the patients obvious neurological problems mainly because they do not deal with them very often; in fact in their career they may only have 6 patients.
Surely the answer is to send the patient to a specialist; Neurologist. The only way to skip their ineptitude is to refer yourself to a Neurologist; it is perfectly legal. The only thing is just like your GPs there are good and bad so I suggest you ask on Everyday Living can anyone recommend a Neurologist in your area. It will cost about £200 for a private appointment but all further treatment; tests; drugs have on the NHS.
You will find they all take private patients so by next week you could be seeing one.
I’m not surprised you’re scared and confused hun, especially since no one seems to be listening to you. As G has said, many GPs will only see a handful of people with MS over the course of their career, so they will look for what they see to be the most obvious/common explanation for symptoms.
Do you have MS? Impossible to tell to be honest. There are many things that can cause neurological type symptoms, some of then easily treatable, the main thing is to get you a referral to a good neurologist, who will run tests to eliminate anything else.
I would suggest taking your list to your GP (book a double appointment, and take someone with you if you can) so that you can highlight your concerns. It’s easy enough for them to perform a Rhomberg test and one for Babinski reflex (see the link in G’spost above - and in fact you can try these yourself if you want to). If you’re still no further forward then yes, unless you can afford to see a neurologist privately, maybe a change of GP/surgery will be required.
If you can afford to see a neurologist privately, then this will speed things up a lot. Look for one who works both privately and for the NHS (local private hospital should be able to tell you). Some of them will see you without a GP referral (I wish I had known this years ago). Mine charges £240 for an initial consultation and £120 thereafter (and he added me to his NHS list so the testing didn’t cost me anything).
I do hope you get some answers soon. I was told for many years that my symptoms were anxiety/depression and I know how frustrating it can be when you feel that something is wrong, but no one listens to you.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I will to go to the GP and give them one last try. I was dismissed with no help on Xmas eve because I have been seeing a rheumy for an on going back problem and my GP said that she didn’t want to do any further investigations whilst I was seeing a rheumatolgist because it would just be repeating what they are doing! I did explain that I have not seen the rheumy since July as the waiting list for follow ups is huge (even though at my last appt they said they would like to see me in 4 months time)!
I will also ask in Everyday living if anyone can reccomend a good neurologist and pay to see one myself if I get another brush off from the GP.
Thanks again, i really appreciate the support and advice
