I am not officially diagnosed yet but on the brink of it I think. I am 34, went to GP with what I suspected were MS symptoms in Nov (mum has it) long story short I had a brain MRI just before Christmas which came back abnormal, “something akin to MS”. GP immediately referred to neurology and requested a spinal MRI. I am feeling very lucky to be at this point so quickly! I have my neuro appt on 27 Jan at Walton Liverpool, but have not had my MRI appt so phoned to chase it today and was told there is a back log and it will be in Feb.
Just wondering how important the cervical spine MRI is for diagnosis? I really don’t want to delay my consultant appt, having been told my brain scan is abnormal and looks like MS obviously I am anxious to see a specialist ASAP. That said I don’t want to waste his time and mine if he really needs the spine scan. My GP initially referred me to general neurology and they rejected it and wanted me seen in a specialist MS clinic, which tells me the brain scan must be pretty conclusive. I have had symptoms for eight weeks now, possibly triggered by pregnancy as I have an almost five month old.
I know I really should just phone Walton and explain the situation, but I am worried the clerk will just say to rebook. Any suggestions? Would you go on the 27th or delay to have the second MRI first?
I would stick with the appointment you have with the neuro. It is not usually (not impossiblethough) to be diagnosed from just a MRI. You are likely to have to have a lot of other tests before you get a diagnosis even if it is fairly clear the way you are going. I would keep the appointment for the spinal MRI when it comes through. If it needs to be done more quickly the Consultant should be able to get it bounced up.
TBH I am a bit surprised that your GP decided that s/he needed to arrange a spinal MRI as well as an urgent referral to Walton especially as your local area seems to be quite hot on getting referrals (and presumably tests) done properly - a word that translates as “from the right budget”. Is Walton out of your immediate Health Board area?
If your spinal MRI is being done a hospital that is not in the Health Board where Walton is based (eg you are in North Wales and you would be having the MRI in Wrexham it COULD be the case that this would be inefficient for the Walton team so make sure that you mention that there is an MRI in the pipeline when you see them as it may need to be rescheduled with the Walton team.
Sorry, that last post read a bit gobbledegook! Trying to post from phone. What this should have read was: "If your spinal MRI is being done a hospital that is not in the Health Board where Walton is based? For example if you are in North Wales you might be having the MRI in Wrexham. This COULD cause confusion as Wrexham might not realise who it should be speaking to or there would be delays as the results would go straight to your GP causing delays. Or it might not. Just remember to tell the team at Walton that there is another MRI in the pipeline when you see them as it may need to be rescheduled.
Sorry didn’t fully explain as didn’t want to put a huge post! I live in Chester with a Chester GP. My original referral resulted in a choose and book appt to general neurology. I chose Walton as countess of Chester had no available apps and I didn’t want to be stuck on a waiting list for weeks (I’m NHS staff so have some knowledge of how it goes). Walton cancelled and told GP to re-refer to a different consultant (I now know this was to ms specialist) which resulted in them offering me the 27th directly. Countess is a satellite clinic for Walton anyway so it would be the same dr just a longer wait and GP confirmed they would be able to access the MRI.
GP gave me the impression that whoever reported on the brain MRI had suggested the spine scan.
Thanks, think I will go along to Walton. I figured they would need to see me more than once anyway so can pick up the spine mr result at a subsequent visit.
Hope that it all goes smoothly. Walton has a very good reputation on here (I always notice because I went to primary school in spitting distance of the original Walton Hospital - and Walton prison!) TBH you are likely to have to make so many visits to see the consultants that a real factor they should tell you to consider when choosing a hospital is which one has the best coffee shop - you are likely to get to know it VERY well
