Good evening.
Ive got my first Neurologist appointment coming up very soon. Could anyone tell me what to expect please. I’m getting very anxious regarding the app and outcome.
Many thanks in advance.
My first appt was lots of questions, neuro examination reflexes, looked in eyes, general movement. I took my husband with me as an extra pair of ears. From this appt was referred for more tests, brain scan and nerve conduction. MS was mentioned along with Clinical Isolated Syndrome.
This appt was with a general neuro I now see an MS specialist. Once in the system the ball starts rolling pretty quickly although there are long waits between appts.
Good luck with your appt
Alberto’s experience was pretty much standard I think. Questions, health history, symptoms, physical exam, referral for tests.
Then you leave the room and ask ‘what did s/he say about …’, and ‘what happens next?’ This is why it’s a really good idea to take some spare ears as Alberito did.
For preparation in advance, it helps to write yourself some notes on what has happened to you and when. A sort of time line. If you’ve organised your thoughts beforehand, you’ll be able to give the neurologist a good sense of your symptoms and history.
Good luck.
Sue
Hi Mr Barbecue!
In my experience the initial appointment is quite underwhelming, and it’s the lack of answers that might make you feel quite frustrated or upset afterwards. I knew very little about the MS diagnostic process before my first appointment and was naively under the impression that after hearing my symptoms and doing an examination I’d get a diagnosis. In reality, MS diagnosis is a really long-winded process as there aren’t any definitive tests and it’s a case of ruling out everything else first (infections, other neurological disorders etc) before you can then start to try to piece together evidence that, when combined with everything else, gives a full picture that shows MS.
I agree with the others about making a list of everything before you go in as the neurologist will want to get a detailed history from you - and if you can’t/don’t want to have someone there with you then take notes about everything they say as it can be hard to remember it all afterwards and it helps to have something to refer back to! My first appointment ended with me being sent for blood tests (to rule out infections etc) and being asked to make an appointment for an MRI - my neurologist was very thorough but also very vague and I left the appointment feeling very underwhelmed as his parting words were “it could be any number of things so we’ll do some tests and then see where we go from there”.
The good news is that even though the process can seem very slow and you may not get definite information very often, once you’re in the system they’ll keep monitoring you and testing you until they know for certain what’s going on, so you have the comfort of knowing that they’ll eventually get to the bottom of it and they have your best interests at heart 
I hope the appointment is ok - let us know how you get on!
Sarah
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And don’t forget to ask questions, every time you don’t understand something, ask what s/he means by X!
Sue