wow.... It sounds like a lot of you have had it come quicker than others with getting dx'd... What is the Swank Diet? How do you find the right doctor? How do you figure out how to find the right doctor?

In my case: I went to my PCP and he said he could not help me and I would need to see a Neurologist. My PCP gave me a referral to a neuro and I have been with the same neuro for 25 years.

Coffeegirl, as I said I was in the middle of a severe exacerbation and it was extremely obvious something was wrong.

It's not only about the neuro but what your testing and exam shows.

3 years for a dx, well at least a correct one, and the last year and a half me telling them what I had and trying to get a doctor to listen.

Hi coffeegirl,
It took three years for me to get a DX and I had symptoms the PCP and Neuro could see. It was not the "Classic presentation" of MS and No MRI's back then.

They tried many meds, then I was in the hospital for a week. They said you have MS. Maybe had it since 16 years old they said, but I am not counting that time. Just the three years or testing, testing, testing.

I think when I had flares in areas show up in so many different places, that correlated to my brain ( with my symptoms) it fit the "time and space" criteria to get a dx. All of this I never knew at the time. I didn't even know what MS was.

I bugged doctors, finally my ear nose throat guy, finding nothing else wrong, sent me for the MRI, and when those results came in, he sent me to a neuro with a clue !

Swank Diet is a low-fat diet, which some believe is highly beneficial for those with MS. I've ate a low-fat (under 15 g daily of Saturated and Trans Fats), no red meat Swank-version diet that I just came up with myself, and I've been following that for over 2 years now.

There's a lot of literature out there about the actual Swank Diet, local library or Internets have Swank Diet info.

Hi guys

I am almost embarrassed to say that my diagnosis was made unofficially on my first consultation with a neuro. He told me 'I think you may have MS, but we need to do more tests to be sure'. That was confirmed with MRI about six weeks later. I was a textbook case. I was half blind and was falling all over the place with very bad proprieception and major coordination issues.

Having said that, I can think of a number of times in the preceding 5 years that I had MS symptoms such as blind spots, slurring my words, numbness and pins and needles. I just pretty much ignored them and they went away by themselves.

Lyn

16 days. I woke up and could not take more then 2 steps with out falling. Went to gp 3-4 days later (weekend), referred to a neuro, had a mri and that was it.

I had ms sx for many years before, but disregarded. They didn't bother me much so I paid no attention.