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Old 09-17-2011, 10:23 PM
booklass booklass is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: West Texas
Posts: 23
10 yr Member
booklass booklass is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: West Texas
Posts: 23
10 yr Member
Default Teaching Hospitals are Social Experiences

" I was wondering if anyone has ever been referred to an educational hospital and could help me as to what to expect with their testing etc."
Well, I have been to a couple, few, teaching hospitals in our military, gypsy life. What I experienced was that it is a very "social" experience. There were often several doctors at a time examining you. That can be a bit disconcerting if you are shy, but it does have its pluses. There are more heads coming up with more ideas. One drawback, depending on where some of your doctors are in their residency, is that some doctors will try to make you fit the diagnosis they have in mind. Especially if you are a puzzling case. Your job is to be very honest about your symptoms, and stick to it. Type up your medical history before you go, and make a few extra copies. Keep one on you so you can refer to it. You will fill out a lot of paperwork. Answer a LOT of questions. Notes help. Keep your explanations short and to the point. I found that the wordier I got, the more likely an intern or doctor was to put in extra information that may not be as accurate into my notes. Think in "bullet form" but, of course, be thorough. I tend to go down other bunny trails sometimes.
I met a lot of mostly nice doctors at the hospitals. I hope your experience is very positive.
Also, I have an autoimmune disease, and I am going through the process now of finding out what is causing my new (and not welcome) case of trigeminal neuralgia. It took years for my autoimmune disease to be officially diagnosed, though, and that is not uncommon with autoimmune diseases of any kind. Several other autoimmune diseases mimic MS, including Sjogren's Syndrome. Because, after all, we couldn't have this be easy, could we? Best of luck. So hang in there, and don't give up pursuing a diagnosis if you know something is wrong. The inability to find an answer does NOT mean the problem does not exist. These things take time.
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