A Newbie Request
 

hi, I'm mike and i find a large part of this forum confusing. can someone make a thread explaining what all these acronyms are you all are using? its very hard & frustrating to get anything out of this forum when i can't understand the language! :confused::(

Help, folks, don't we already have one somewhere?? Help is on the way, Mike....sorry.

I swear there was a Sticky with all acronyms, but I can't find it. Monitors!??

hehe yeah i was looking at the stickies hoping :)

In the Chronic Pain forum they have a list!!!!

There's a link to it on the forum guidelines area, and also in a sticky thread on the chronic pain forum.

Chronic Pain forum- feel free to add to it as new ones come up.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread255.html

Guidelines-
http://forums.braintalk2.org/showthread.php?t=1293

PPMS - Primary progressive MS
SPMS- Secondary Progressive
RR - RelapsingRemitting
PwMS- People with MS
Ex DH- I don't think the D stands for dear here.
DDH - Departed Dear Husband
WC - Wheelchair

ON = Optic Neuritis

TN = Trigeminal Neuralgia

TM = Transverse Myelitis

Ophtho (or Optho) = Ophthalmologist

C = Copaxone (injectible meds for MS)

A = Avonex (injectible meds for MS)

R = Rebif (see Copaxone and Avonex)

B = Betaseron (ditto)

CRABs = Copaxone, Rebif, Avonex, Betaseron... It's a generic term that describes all of the immune modulating meds

NP = Nurse Practitioner (my aunt is one of those)

LDN = Low Dose Naltrexone, which is an off label medication that a lot of MSers take. (I want some! none of my doctors will Rx it for me.)

Rx = short hand abbreviation for "prescribe" or "prescription".

ABX or Abx = antibiotics

Dx = diagnose/diagnosis/diagnosed


I cant think of any more right now, but I'm sure other people will throw in a few too.

Sx or sxs-symptom(s)
SIL-son in law or sis in law
D followed by W,H,S,D,MIL,FIL,F,M...Dear-family members-or BF,GF boyfriend, girlfriend

Swiss cheese brain can't think of any more

oh wait-cog fog---cognitive dysfunction, mainly memory problems

A few more we use.

BTW (btw) by the way

LOL Laughing out loud

FWIW For what it's worth

CCSVI Chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency

YW your welcome

TO thank you

TX Thanks

Anti-b's Antibiotics

Injectables Drugs we give to ourselves by needle

Infusion A needle put into your body (like your arm) that is hooked up to medication, to get it into your blood.

IV In to a vein with a needle

IVSM In the vein steroids are given. The steroid drug in SM + Solu Medrol

meds medications

PCP Primary care Physician

GP General Practice doctor

MS Doc. MS Specialist

Chemo drugs Some drugs that people take for MS that is normally used as chemotherapy

Off label A drug prescribed for another use, then it was originally made for.

Neuro Neurologist

buttski hinny

crapola or carp = junk with put up with, like pain and symptoms.

brain farts= lost a thought or two (forgot)

WTH What the heck

MRI machine to check for brain, head, neck, leg or back problems using magnets

MRV machine to check the veins in the body.

Doppler US Doppler Ultrasound machine to check with sound waves the bodies interior at most locations on the body.

Plumbing = Bowel and Bladder issues. Or B & B problems

mobility aids- any device that helps us to move around safely, example - a cane

Ty -Tysabri = infusion drug for MS

Road trip = going on vacation. See family, friends or visit places.

We abbreviate people's Avatars too. Like AMN = is After My Nap

Sorry, I called you Clark, yet your name is Mike, who knew? If you have any questions just ask, we understand it gets confusing. We like to shorten our typing if we can.:)

Additionally you may see:
SO = Significant Other
SP = Spouse
SOH = Significant Other Husband
SOW = Significant Other Wife
SOL = $hit Out of Luck
SOB = Well, you get the idea.....

thanks everybody! this is very helpful, i will also visit those links to the thread in chronic pain! :)

DMD is disease modifying drugs
PT is physical therapy
OT is occupational therapy
ON is optic neuritis


Print off the list from the chronic pain place and add to it with a pencil. it will help to refer to it when reading, and then before you know it, you too will be speaking the lingo of MS.

My recent health care is a PPO, but my old one was a POS. THEY said that meant Point of Service, but I always thought it meant something else!!! :cool:

Maybe it just had a double meaning?

IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) although a POS, liked it better(the company) than current PPO.

DH =dear husband
DW=dear wife
DD = dear daughter
so on and so on. Just add who you want to call dear

btw = by the way
lol = laugh out loud
j/k = just kidding
b/d =birthday
g/f =girlfriend
b/f= boyfriend
bff = best friend forever

Why do we abbreviate? well, its an MS thing. writing is hard work, and our little fingers cramp up and our brains freeze. The faster we get to to point the less likely we are to forget what we are trying to say.

I think everyone abbreviates now. It's not just because we have MS and we're trying to save time by abbreviating everything. Even the Normals abbreviate stuff...(I hate reading posts or texts from a teenager written in "textese". Makes my eyes bleed to see "you" abbreviated as "u", and "your" abbreviated as "ur")

I havent yet been able to let go and abbreviate everything like the teenagers seem to have done. I think a few of my English teachers would hunt me down and shoot me repeatedly if I did that...which is weird, back when I was a student of theirs, I would have been all for textese...I wasnt the greatest student. At the very least, they'd probably assign me a bunch of English homework and expect me to have everything handwritten in ink and in cursive. (I dont really handwrite much anymore)

I have kind of dropped using apostrophes, except in my own last name. (I've got one of those Irish "O' " last names) because it is faster to type when I dont have to make my numb pinky finger look for the apostrophe key.