It's not all in my mind!

Hi, I was ‘sort of’, diagnosed with MS yesterday! By that I mean that I received yesterday the results of my recent MRI scan which was undertaken to see if my blood vessels were affecting my trigeminal nerve (I have a history of trigeminal neuralgia). Anyway we went back for results yesterday, and apparently the scan had identified abnormalities something or other (sorry, I often can’t find words), that something a diagnosis with active MS.

GP said that the MRI results along with my history, meant that MS was the most likely cause, and particularly with a sister having it. She has already spoken to a Neuro, and the hospital will be contacting me to arrange an appointment soon. She also explained that she is unable to make a formal diagnosis.

It’s actually a bit of a relief…I have mental illness, and generally speaking I rarely visit doctors with symptoms of illness, as most just put things down to ‘anxiety’ or ‘depression’, or of course the meds! (Yup, even blood clots are anxiety until scans prove otherwise). And of course with all the meds I take, it’s easy to put things down to them; my inability to learn new things, inability to read a map, confusion when attempting new things or even things I have been doing for ages, my poor balance, tiredness all the time, loss of voice for over a year, my clumsiness, loss of balance, I could go on…

I’m just wondering what next now, more tests? A review of meds? Or do I just humble along as before?

hi sally

well i won’t say sorry that you have been diagnosed because at least you now know what it is.

your appointment will probably consist of talking about your symptoms (make a brief diary of them).

some physical exam stuff.

officially telling you about your diagnosis.

introducing you to your ms nurse.

offering you a choice of DMDs - Disease Modifying Drugs (read up so that you will have a rough idea of what the neuro is on about).

you never know, your anxiety may diminish now that you know what is going on with your body.

then the fun begins, how to take control of your new body!

carole x

Hi Sally,

Your doctor can’t diagnose you with MS because she isn’t qualified to. Only a neurologist can do that.

They will need to consider other neurological conditions before a diagnosis can be given and even then you’ll need other tests for them to be certain.

I think the best thing that you can do is make sure that you take someone with you to your next appointment.

It isn’t easy to take everything in, especially because there’s so much medical jargon.

Best wishes,

Anthony