Thanks for the replies. I am going to call my MS doctor and see what she has to say about this.

I should have said in the beginning of my message that I have an MS doctor who is a 3 hour drive one way.
She wanted me to find someone closer who would partner with her in my care.

The is the first neuro I saw hoping he would be a right fit. He said he has never heard of my doctor. She actually works for the MS clinic here in our state and the clinic is fairly well known.

Maybe he is new to the area. I do have some other options here. What a waste of money today was except for he did confirm for me that my MS doctor going in the right direction.

I just do not appreciate being looked down on because of our family size. My husband and I have been married 26 years. We gave birth to 2 children. Adopted 5 little children who needed a home.

We have been criticized and questioned about WHY we would do this by other people. Honestly if a person can not understand opening your arms and home to a child who needs a home then I don't understand them.

There are so many children who need families and not enough families willing to take them.

I didn't know I had MS before we adopted our children. If I had we probably would not have taken on such a challenge. Four of our adopted children have Down syndrome.

I am grateful we have our family. The future is kind of scary but things will be ok.....ok enough venting.

Thanks for the support!

LA:

I have several cousins who were adopted, and they're my favorite cousins, so I like hearing about people who adopt. I dont see why that doctor had to interrogate you on the number of kids you have and why. What does the number of kids you have have to do with your MS?


It drives me nuts when a doctor or a nurse assume that vertigo is not a serious symptom. If the vertigo is bad enough to drop you to the floor or make you wake up constantly while you're sleeping...or keeps you from walking or driving. That's a pretty serious symptom.

About two weeks ago, I woke up with vertigo. Called my neuro and he was so ready to write me a Rx for steroids without even seeing me in his office. Only reason I didnt get the Rx was because I didnt want oral steroids, he didnt want to give me IV steroids, and we both kind of decided to see if it was being caused by the ON and not by some new activity somewhere else. It didnt last long at least. (ohthankgoodness!) I dont like the side effects of the steroids, so I'm glad I didnt take them.

I'm hoping to not have to take steroids too often. (only did them once, and that was for some pretty serious vertigo last year) But, if I ever get vertigo so bad that it drops me to the floor again, I'm taking the steroids however the neuro wants to give them to me. I'll take them orally, IV, or heck, even rectally if I have to. Anything to make the dizzies not bother me.

I just hate vertigo. Good thing the dizzies that hit me a few weeks ago were mild in comparison to previous vertigo attacks I had before I even knew about having MS.

As a nurse, let me tell you, this jerk was making judgements about you.

he was thinking you were NUTS for having 7 kids on purpose. That you were probably just seeking SSDI or some other sort of "hand out" (their opinion not mine) That you were a sympathy seeker, and doctor shopping until you found the one that you could force to agree to YOUR diagnosis.

Advice. RUN. Run far, Run Fast, just RUN. This guy is a jerk!

I want an MD who listens to ME! not to my chart. I want an MD who is kind, and compassionate, and not judgemental about MY life choices. Even if I paint my hair purple and have 12 earrings, and a tongue stud. (I dont btw) If I have so many children I have to live in a shoe. its NOT his business. Your disease is his business. He was a horrible man. I hope you run away.

I am way too opinioned and I know it but I have to say something about how you were treated.

First, I want to tell you what a wonderful people you and your husband are. To give a loving home to children that would otherwise grow up in state home with out the personal love and attention that you are providing says so much about you. I resent that this Dr verbally abused you as he did. He had no right at all to treat you like he did.

Sometimes we are so shocked that we were treated the way we were that we do not respond promptly. It sounds like that is what happened to you. If he was having that bad a day, he should have rescheduled his patients and carried his ***** home for the rest of the day!

I was wondering why you need this guy anyway. If the MS Dr knows the treatment she would order, couldn't she work with your local Internal Medicine Dr if you needed to be treated with steroids? I know that is what I have arranged with the MS specialist that I go to in Atlanta. I do not see a local Neuro because they really did not think I had MS and would not review all that was going on with me when I was sent to them so my Internal Med Dr sent me to Atlanta to a MS Clinic and its about 1 1/2 hrs from us and I go there ever 6 months unless there is something going on then I am seen more often.

Ask your local Medical Dr if they are willing to work with the MS Specialist. I hate to think of you ever having to go back to that Dr. I know it sounds like I am taking this personal and maybe I am. I am just so tired of people getting mistreated by the medical community.

I certainly hope you will go to the rating site and give us a heads up on this dr so others can stay away from him if they are given a choice. The site is www.msneuroratings.com

Take care and again I say thank you for opening your home and heart to those precious children.

Thank you Thank you Thank you for that link!

I immediately went and posted about 2 neuros i have dealt with. This is awesome! I will add a book mark to be able to go back there.

This is Andrea/Spooky's site, that I mentioned in another thread, but didn't have the link. Thanks Gam for providing the link..

Oh thank you. I want to respond back to your post but have had a crazy long day and will be back on the board tomorrow.

LA

He's obviously got some biases, which have nothing to do with compassion or empathy, but I can guess "why" he was acting the way he was.

He's probably one of those guys that doesn't give out a dx unless the person has 50 lesions, 9 O-bands, and is in a wheelchair . . .

He wanted to know why you weren't going back to the other doctor, probably because he wanted to see if you were out doctor-shopping for a dx. Your dx is not a slam-dunk in his opinion, although in the end he agreed it was at LEAST CIS.

I don't think his comments about having 7 kids had much to do with this . . . he just hates kids (women, dogs, and old people) and can't understand how anyone else could like them that much.

My neuro has a morbid curiosity about depression with MS. Every time I go in there, she hands me this 5 page questionnaire about "how I'm feeling". She never tells me what my answers indicated to her . . . but she doesn't offer antidepressants either so I guess I'm doing ok in that department.

I think the important thing, when dealing with any doc, is to find one who knows what they are talking about when YOU ask the questions. Otherwise, I just look at them a social misfits in life, and ignore their many quirks.

I wouldn't take it too personally, LA.

Cherie

[QUOTE=lady_express_44;306841]He's obviously got some biases, which have nothing to do with compassion or empathy, but I can guess "why" he was acting the way he was.

He's probably one of those guys that doesn't give out a dx unless the person has 50 lesions, 9 O-bands, and is in a wheelchair . . .
He was so stuck on the LP. But then decided I didn't need an LP because it would not change the treatment of Avonex and my other medications because he was certain that I had at least CIS. At the end of the appointment I directly asked him what he thought I had and he said "MS" so he must have seen something in my exam or the information in my chart was starting to sink in for him. But he couldn't keep himself from commenting that sometimes our sensory symptoms are not as bad as we think they are. Maybe he would like to run around with ON for a few days and see how he feels it affects HIS life.
He wanted to know why you weren't going back to the other doctor, probably because he wanted to see if you were out doctor-shopping for a dx. Your dx is not a slam-dunk in his opinion, although in the end he agreed it was at LEAST CIS.
(I wasn't sure what to say to that question. I thought I had made it very clear to him up front that I was there to coordinated care with my MS specialist, not for another opinion or to be grilled.

I don't think his comments about having 7 kids had much to do with this . . . he just hates kids (women, dogs, and old people) and can't understand how anyone else could like them that much.
You are probably correct! He was not the friendliest guy around that is for sure.

My neuro has a morbid curiosity about depression with MS. Every time I go in there, she hands me this 5 page questionnaire about "how I'm feeling". She never tells me what my answers indicated to her . . . but she doesn't offer antidepressants either so I guess I'm doing ok in that department.
Sometimes those none answers are worse than if they would just give their opinion. At least an opinion would let you know where you stand.

I think the important thing, when dealing with any doc, is to find one who knows what they are talking about when YOU ask the questions. Otherwise, I just look at them a social misfits in life, and ignore their many quirks.

I wouldn't take it too personally, LA.
I go to my MS doctor next week. I called to let her know what happened. I would be ok if I could just skip the local neuro and go to my PCP. I am going to see if that might be an option.

He would say something to me and then look at my chart and go OH. It would have been much easier for him and for me if had maybe looked at the chart before he opened his mouth.

Hi and thanks so much for your kind words.

Your suggestion just opened up some other possibilities for me.

My MS doctor wanted me to have a doctor locally who would be able to help with steroids or what ever might come up in between my check ups with her.

My PCP said he'd preferred I find someone besides him because he does not know enough about MS to feel comfortable. He only has 3 of us with MS. We are in a very small country community.

But there are other PCP's and internists around here. The neurologists in this area seem to be stuck on the same page when it comes to MS.

I was shocked when this doctor moved the conversation away from the reason I was there and started to add his own opinion. My MS doctor said NOTHING about our family size and I was not there for a second opinion.

I was afraid another neuro would try to throw their own opinion in on my situation. So in the end, after the trauma, he said it was MS.

Thank you for the link. I will go out there and post about the doctors I have seen!

LA