Hi Trueman,
IF - and it’s a big “if” - all your symptoms are from the same cause, and you don’t have two or more coincidental conditions, some of them just don’t fit with MS.
A lot of them could, but MS does NOT cause dry mouth, thirst, dry nose, hair etc. (Not sure what you mean about dry ears - do you mean as in scaly or flaky, or not producing enough wax, or what? Either way, this isn’t an MS thing!)
Also coughing and wheezing are not usual symptoms of MS - at least, not on the main part of the spectrum. Somebody who is very seriously affected by MS to the point of being immobilised may be prone to lung infections, but it’s not a particular hallmark of MS, as it could happen to anyone who’s severely incapacitated with anything, but is fairly unlikely in someone who’s well enough to be up and about.
The only advice I can offer is to try to be patient, wait for the scan results, and see what is said.
I would not like to try to second guess what they will be, as I cannot say from your symptoms (and neither could anyone else) whether you have MS. Only that certain things aren’t a good fit.
This is not something you can “do anything about”, other than let investigations run their course. I’m afraid that IS the way forward - there’s no magic shortcut that will get you answers quicker.
Even paying to be seen privately may not make a huge amount of difference, as yes, you will almost certainly land an appointment more quickly, but their criteria for diagnosis are exactly the same as on the NHS. If the evidence doesn’t stack up, they still won’t be able to diagnose you, so a faster appointment doesn’t always mean faster answers.
I went privately, because I happened to have private healthcare through work. Yes, I did see someone quickly, and get scans and tests quickly, but still had to wait a long time for answers, just like most other people being investigated for MS. Until all the ducks are lined up, you won’t get a diagnosis of MS - or of anything. And this is often a matter of just waiting for enough evidence to materialise - NOT how soon you can get appointments. I think my consultant believed from Day 1 I would turn out to have MS - but it still took him another eight months to prove it. It’s not something that can be rushed.
And when I say “Day 1”, I’m counting from the first day I saw a neurologist.
In retrospect, I believe I’d been ill for a lot of years before that, but had never ended up in Neurology, so never saw anyone who recognised the problem. The same can work the other way round too, i.e. just because you get sent to Neurology doesn’t always mean the problem IS neurology. There can be quite a lot of overlap between Neurology and, say, Rheumatology, so sometimes it’s a matter of luck whether you get sent to the right one first.
Stick with it, and I know it sounds like I’m asking the impossible, but try to stay calm. Particularly if it’s MS, stress and anxiety tend to aggravate the symptoms, but I’m quite sure they’re not good for any illness, so you need to have strategies for keeping calm. Whether it’s hobbies, music, meditation, whatever, try to find something that works for you.
Tina