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Elder
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,020
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Elder
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,020
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Yes, go have a doctor check you out...
One suggestion, when you go to the doctor, dont tell him/her that you suspect it's MS, just tell them you've been having symptoms that are troubling or disturbing to you and you'd like to know what's going on.
If you tell them you think you have MS, they could end up thinking that you might be a hypochondriac or something. Dont say anything that might prejudice their judgement of you and your symptoms.
Some women, when they go to a doctor complaining of the types of symptoms that we MSers get, can be kind of blown off by doctors because a lot of the symptoms that we get can be non-specific. But, if a man goes and complains of the same symptoms, they get taken seriously immediately.
When I went to the doctor because I had a numb thigh, hip and leg, the doctor that checked me out for whatever was going on at the time said that I had a "sprain" and that I should go home and "put heat on it".
I got yelled at (or at least a stern explanation on how to treat a sprain) for saying that heat made it worse, cold makes it feel better. The doctor (a woman) pretty much inferred that I was nuts without actually saying I was nuts. (I'd seen her before for other symptoms that I now think were MS related. I refuse to see that doctor now and tell the secretaries to not even bother having me see her. I'll wait for a different doctor) After I got diagnosed, I saw her in the hallway when going to see my regular doctor. She asked me how I was, and I kind of snottily told her "remember that numb leg I had?...It's MS." I think she now knows that I dont hold a whole lot of faith in her doctor skills.
Hopefully you'll get a doctor who actually has an open mind. I'm not sure why a lot of doctors that I encountered immediately started to act as if they didnt believe me. Maybe because I was too knowledgable (I took medical terminology classes for a job and tended to use the big doctor words instead of euphemisms to describe things. I've since had to dumb myself down when speaking to a new doctor)
At least before I got diagnosed my regular doctor immediately figured out something was wrong and pretty much defended me to a couple of other doctors who were so nasty to me that they almost made me cry...and a second doctor in that same office had a few relatives with MS and he's the one I talked to when I started to really freak out over the worry and then finally getting diagnosed. It's almost more depressing to be having all those problems and having doctors tell you that it's anxiety and not a real symptom. It helps having a couple of doctors who are willing to help you get thru the wall of stubborness that other doctors stand behind.
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~ Never do anything that you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics. ~ Author Unknown ~
~ "Animals have two functions in society. To taste good and to fit well." ~ Greg Proops, actor ~
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