Hi everyone,
I really need recommendations for good neurologist in north west area please ?
ie Wirral, Chester or Liverpool
I need to see one privately I think as I’ve been referred but appointments keep being cancelled.
Thank you xx
You should be aware that no one is allowed to name specific Doctors on here. But they can tell you experiences (good and bad) in private messages.
Hopefully someone will have suggestions for you.
Sue
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Just looking back and realised I never replied to thank you for your reply Sue.
i got to see a consultant eventually and was diagnosed pretty much on the spot…
not really a quick diagnosis though, I’ve had it at least 10 yrs according to consultant and I think probably longer…and was actually misdiagnosed with a stroke at the same hospital 6 yrs ago now changed to ms.
Whether the consultant is good or bad … the jury is still out on that one.
Sometimes it’s only in retrospect that we can decide whether a neurologist is good, bad or indifferent. My new neurologist impressed me on first meeting. Then did the exact reverse in the second appointment. Subsequently he has redeemed himself a little.
No worries about thanking me. Not necessary.
It’s perhaps a good thing that you were diagnosed reasonably quickly, even if it does come after years of symptoms / relapses.
Sue
Yes Sue,
Quick diagnosis this time but he says (and I knew) I’d had it at least 10 yrs, frustratingly he even referred to older scans showing it and when challenged just shrugged and said were human too, we make mistakes.
Despite this, I don’t qualify at present for DMTs,not enough relapses …
I feel because my symptoms have not been logged as relapses along the way but rather put down to trapped nerves, stress, etc…
on one hand I am worried about this, on the other hand the potential side effects worry me too.
i keep reading though that someone should be on treatment ASAP after diagnoses.
Im sure there are many in my position though.
The general rule about DMDs is that you should have had two clinically significant relapses in the last two years.
But many neurologists take a much wider view on what counts as ‘clinically significant’. Ie, if you can put a date to a time when you had a relapse and the symptoms you experienced, they’ll accept it as two relapses (counting the one that brought you to their attention.
Some people (regardless of their profession) are just sticklers for the rules!
Make sure you keep a diary from now on. Then if you have something that looks and feels like a relapse, get in touch with your MS nurse (assuming you have one) and see if you can speed up the route to drugs that can help reduce relapses and their potential damage.
Honestly, all drugs have the potential for side effects. The DMDs are just the same. You weigh up the risks against the potential benefits and decide for yourself which drug (out of whichever ones you are eventually offered) you feel happiest taking. From my perspective, there is no question but to take a DMD. I am proof that not being on one can do immense damage. That cannot be overcome. I have been unlucky and have suffered bad side effects from 3 different DMDs. So out of my 22 years with MS, I’ve been on a DMD without untenable side effects for 5 years. And I am very disabled following damage done by relapses.
I’m actually about to restart Copaxone (the only drug I can take!) This is after having been declared secondary progressive about 3 years ago. Suddenly last year, I started relapsing again. So I’m now ‘Progressive Relapsing’.
When you are given the go-ahead to take a DMD, think very carefully about taking a drug. Weigh up the risks of side effects and balance that against potential relapses.
Hopefully your relapses will be few and far between, so that time may not happen for a long while.
Best of luck.
Sue
I naively thought that once diagnosed I would go straight onto a dmd.
I want to be, it terrifies me what the next relapse might do.
I am not very good at keeping a diary as I’m so busy with work and family who have health problems but I was shocked myself when I looked back through a work diary and found the notes I’d put which in hindsight probably were another relapse. I know I’ve got to be more proactive and advocate for myself.
I’m sorry that the MS has taken such a toll on you. It’s not good you’ve had another relapse, but good that it means you can be restarted on treatment again. Hope you can tolerate the treatment and it slows down any further progression for you.
Take care x