What to tell the neuro

I’m seeing the neurologist for the first then in couple of weeks, Im not sure what to tell him because ive got sooo much to say.Is there guidelines on how to speak to the doctor etc and how the process goes?

Hiya

As you know im still waiting but a good idea is writing down a list of your symptoms with timescales I.e numbness in arm 2 weeks . I think they will ask about your medical history and then give you a neurological exam . Have you ever had one ?

kat x

Hi Cosine,

I tried to reply last night, but lost the lot, so threw a paddy and gave up!

I think the list is quite a good idea, but only as a reminder to you of what you want to cover. Don’t make the mistake of handing it over to the consultant, and saying: “It’s all on there!”, as you’ll be wasting the chance of a proper two-way discussion, and also risking that he’ll pop it in the file “for later”, and it will never see the light of day again!

If all you do is hand over a list, you might as well have done the whole thing by email, and not had an appointment at all.

It’s not unusual for appointments to be a bit rushed, so try to compose your list in order of the most severe or upsetting problems first. Put the minor things at the bottom. That way, if you don’t quite get to the end, you won’t have left out anything major.

Be honest, be yourself. If he hasn’t understood, or wants more detail about anything, he should stop you to ask. He may also ask about things that aren’t on your list: “Do you get X?”, “Have you ever had Y?” If you’re sure you haven’t, then say so. If you realise you might have, even a little bit, then say that too.

You don’t need exact times and dates of everything that’s ever happened. Approximations are fine, such as: “Most days”, “Every couple of weeks”, or: “Before Christmas”. Also try to group similar symptoms together - so judging by what you’ve said elsewhere, numbness is likely to be a topic, for example. You don’t want to discuss all episodes of numbness as separate issues, as it will use up all your time. So I’m not saying treat them as one big thing, exactly, but use themes, rather than date order. So you might say: “In [whenever it was], I noticed numbness in my leg, and about X weeks later I got similar in my arm.”

That avoids talking about numbness, but then bringing it up again ten minutes later, just because it happened at a different time, or in a different part of the body.

Tina

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a logical but clear list is good, but the major (from your point of view) first. There maybe things that are “signs” not “symptoms” but maybe as important. Be prepared to speak to the situations but when i handed over my list of how many days I have experienced x,y and z I was called “pathlogical”. But be thorough, if people had listened to me sooner I would be a few months further down the road than I am now having had people brush over things just because big obvious signs were not there.

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Thank you sooo much Tina that was so so helpful and it will stop me from making the mistakes i was ggoing to make!

I feel like what you said was exactly what i needed!

God bless you x

Thank you kat! For your support, I have kept a diary but i’ll remember to make a list x never had a neuro exam before!

Thank you for your advice Chris , it is much appreciated and I’msorry your symptoms were brushed off but I hope you are getting the treatment you need now!

I have the sym trac app on my phone that helps with everything your feeling and can list and track your daily or weekly symptoms and gives a good overview of your issues,

Em Gem,

Good app but how do u delete errors?

Snowqueen