Hi - I am new to this website I’m afraid - with hindsight I should have joined 2 years ago… but I didn’t.
I suppose I was in denial - this couldn’t be happening to me & my dearest family…
Anyway, I will cut to the chase - I posted here for the first time, a few days ago, re: Evoked Potentials, etc. But I now cannot find my post, nor any replies. I have tried to send a message to the forum, to ask what I have done wrong, but there is no reply.
PLEASE - Can someone help me?
Kindest Regards
Hi Maggy,
It’s very unlikely you have done anything wrong.
Due to recent problems with SPAM, sometimes posts from new users are held in a moderation queue - for up to a few days it seems - until they have been manually verified as OK, and not spam.
I cannot find your first post either, so I’m guessing that must be what’s happened. Or did you definitely see some replies (which means it must have posted)?
I don’t know why your first post may have been automatically flagged as “suspect”, when this second one hasn’t been. Although I think this one, too, may have got delayed, as it seems to have materialised directly on Page 2, without ever making it to Page 1 (that I remember seeing).
Bear with it for another day or two. If your post does not reappear, I can only suggest posting it again. Or, if you can’t wait that long, post it again anyway, and see if it gets through this time.
It really is a pain, but we’ve had insufferable amounts of spam, that were pushing all the genuine posts off the board. So now, instead of “innocent 'til proven guilty”, there tends to be a presumption that ALL new posters are potential spammers, until someone has taken a look and decided otherwise. It’s really harsh on genuine posters, but there doesn’t seem to be any other way of stopping the tide of spam. The site administrators even wrote to the spammers, pleading with them to stop, but they only responded by doing it more.
Hope your post shows up soon!
Tina
x
Maggy
Your post isn’t on the forum and neither is it stuck in the Trustqueue. Somewhere between you and us it seems to have disappeared.
Liz [Moderator]
I think it’s in the new diagnosis section and it was posted anonymously Maggy 
I thought I’d seen it because I acutally don’t know what evoked potentials are blushes
I’ll see if I can get a link for you
Sonia x
My computer is playing games, I can’t copy the link. I bumped it u in the diagnosis section anyway
I think it couldn’t be easily found as it was post anon and obviously it wasn’t in any queue for Liz to find.
Hope youy can locate it now, but if not try going to ‘my homepage’ as I’m sure there’s a list of recent posts etc.
Sonia x
Sorry, I should have said, I can’t help with your question.
Evoked Potential (EP) tests
Evoked Potential tests are procedures for measuring the speed of impulses along neurons. Responses can be measured using EEG readings from electrodes attached to the scalp and occasionally other areas of the skin. Although this may sound like something from Frankenstein, they are in fact completely painless and entirely harmless. Based on input signals to the particular sense being measured, the time taken for that response to register can be accurately measured and compared to normal readings. The results are then analysed on a computer and average speeds recorded.
Demyelinated neurons transmit nerve signals slower than non-demyelinated ones and this can be detected with EP tests. Although they may appear to function perfectly, even remyelinated neurons are slower than normal nerves and so historical lesions can be detected in this way.
There are three main types of evoked potential test:
Visually Evoked Potential (VEP)
This test measures the speed of the optic nerve. The patient has to focus on the centre of a “TV” screen on which there is a black and white chequered pattern. Each square in the pattern alternates between black and white at measured intervals. The patient wears a patch on one eye for a while and then on the other, so that the speed of both optic nerves can be measured.
85-90% of people with definite MS and 58% of people with probable MS will have abnormal VEP test results.
Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER)
The BAER test measures the speed of impulses along the auditory portion of Cranial Nerve VIII. This nerve arises in the Pons area of the Brainstem and therefore this test may be indicative of lesions in that area. The patient lies down in a darkened room to prevent visual signals from interfering with measurements. A series of clicks and beeps are played back to the patient.
67% of people with definite MS and 41% of people with probable MS will have abnormal BAER test results.
SomatoSensory Evoked Potential (SSEP)
The SSEP test involves strapping an electrical stimulus around an arm or leg. The current is switched on for 5 seconds and electrodes on the back and skull measure the response at particular junctions. The current is very low indeed and completely painless. The speed of various nerves can be measured in this way and the points of slow-down (i.e. demyelinated lesions) approximated to because of the sampling at several places.
77% of people with definite MS and 67% of people with probable MS will have abnormal SSEP test results.
Slow nerve responses in any of these tests are not necessarily indicative of MS but can be used in conjunction with a neurological examination, medical history, an MRI and a spinal tap to deduce some kind of diagnosis.
Why go anonymous? And if you’re going to cut and paste from somewhere, why not say where from, or even post the link?
I’m not saying anything you’ve posted is incorrect. But if you’ve found a useful source, why not give yourself a username, and say where you got it from? It’s not against the rules to quote information from other sources. But it’s good manners to credit the original source, and also helps people assess how reliable it is. How do you know you can trust information, if you don’t even know where it came from?
Tina
Hello,
Thanks anon thats some great info
Darren