Just wanted to thank those who replied to my last post about my referral being disregarded as urgent despite my GP requesting me to be seen urgently.
Anyway, when I spoke to my GP about this, he decided that he would try and at least get me a scan of some sort without seing the consultant, and I now have a CT head booked for the beginning of Oct.
Was just wondering if anyone could tell me what to expect as regards the procedure please.
Although my GP would have preferred me to have an MRI, he says the CT will at least rule out certain conditions.
Other than that, I’m feeling a little better - still off work which I hate but I still cannot do too much without feeling whacked.
I wasn’t going to post on here as I’m trying to convince myself that I don’t have MS but to be honest, you are all so lovely and helpful so I hope you don’t mind me asking.
As it stands, the urgent list for the neurologist is 6 months! I’m probably going to go private though as cannot afford to be off work all this time.
I’m a biochemist but i’ll have a go at a simple explanation
A CT scan is basically a high resolution X-ray (don’t worry though the amount of radiation is minimal and completely safe). While a MRI is a magnetic resonance scan that uses the properties of your molecules under a magnetic field to image structure (basically molecules spin at different speeds under different magnetic fields and the software associated with the machine uses this information to construct an image of the tissues).
Both methods are able to give you cross sectional images but MRI is better for looking in detail, ie the resolution is better in soft tissues as a Xray is basically based on the density of the imaged tissue, ie bone is a lot more dense than muscle.
I haven’t had a CT scan but an MRI and it’s noisy, i would imagine a CT scan will be much quieter though. You will be asked to remove any metal you are wearing, and lie inside a tube containing the machinery. The radiographer will talk to you through the process telling you when he is about to start a scan etc and if you need to hold especailly still. You might be given a constrast dye so that the scan is more sensitive. The link below is great.
Basically scans are fine, i was really worried before mine and it was fine - my only problem was not figiting
Its great your GP is doing something and taking you seriously - youv’e got a good one there
Take care
Sara
PS apologies for the spelling - i wish i could blame it on the neuro problems but i never have been able to spell!
I think the procure is similar to being scaned by MRI - you may lie on a table that goes through the scanner.
CT and MRI are different technology (CT uses x-rays , MRI magnetic fields) . MRI shows more detail. An MS lesion would have to be very big to be picked up by CT.
Has your GP done blood tests to look for other causes? That would help rule things out.
NICE says patients should be be seen in 6 weeks if the GP suspects MS. So 6 months is ridiculous. I’m in Scotland with a confessed shortage of neuros and think waiting 12 weeks was bad
