Stress levels so high advice please!

New diagnosis and before diagnosis
1

Hi everyone - I hve been on the site for around 2 years now and find the advice help and support invaluable.

I am having a particularly stressful time and the moment and am finding it difficult to find solutions and make decisions with all thats going on.

T o get up to date I saw a neuro at my local hospital at the beginning of the year and he did the relevant exam etc…

I complained of muscle stiffness particularly in my legsa and I have a internal tremor in my head left hand side not visible this comes on after sleep in ewarly morning. It did not go well he just did not seem to hear me, put the tremor down to migraine and after checking reflexes assured me legs were ok. I got on with my life throughout the summer but my legs are so weird the stiffness wont go… went back to my gp who wrote to thew neuro dept direct to the ms specialist there and he said given previous consultation he did not feel he could do anything more!!!.

I am so upset I could pay to see this consultant privately but not surehe is obviouslys going to know my history.

But I dont want to go farther afield, I am extremely anxious of driving/travelling and want to be treated as near as poss.

My GP just seems to make things worse, the diagnosis from the neuro at the beg of year was suspected CFS with somosensory anxiety… and poss CFS management may help. My GP has arranged for a CFS fatigue management

appt but I feel this is sending me in the wrong direction causing stress but what else do I have at the moment?

In the very beg I did see a neuro who did a mri of head only - I have asked if I can go back to him but he is reluctant due to comments of other neuro I cannot see this one privately.

The CFS appt is not with a consultant ie someone who can diagnose but Im thinking they will see it is not CFS.

On top of this I have been called for Jury Service. I would appreciate any different approaches or advice

I dont want to waste my money on seeing the neuro privtely but know someone needs to see me physically

my A game seems to have desserted me in my hour of need ty

Anon

2

Getting someone to listen when their colleagues have dismissed you is a very difficult thing, but it can be done. Unfortunately, it does seem to require a supportive GP, and it sounds like yours feels you should pursue the CFS thing for now. Maybe you should give it a try? Not only will it show that you are willing to work with your GP, if it doesn’t have much of an effect then your GP can’t say you didn’t try and it’ll support your case that there is more going on. At that point the GP might be more willing to send you for a spinal MRI and do you a new referral to someone else who has the confidence to go against his colleagues if need be.

Anxiety can cause very real physical symptoms, so trying to get yours better managed may also give you some relief from your symptoms. Has your GP prescribed you something for your anxiety? Or suggested CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) perhaps? If you could reduce your anxiety, you would also have a better handle on which symptoms are anxiety-related and which aren’t.

I don’t have first hand experience of jury duty, but if you don’t believe you could do it then I’m pretty sure that you can be excused on medical grounds - I think anyone who has a chronic medical condition can be excused, but you’ll need to check because I could be wrong.

It must be terribly frustrating, but try and remember that, if it is MS, it’s not going anywhere, and as it doesn’t seem to be progressing all that fast, a relatively short delay to attend a course and do some CBT or something that might just help you in day-to-day life won’t make a massive difference in the long run.

Good luck.

Karen x