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second opinion - should i get one?
Ok this is like the 4th post i have started today and not finished. maybe this one will fare better than the others.
I have been having an internal debate with myself all day long as to weather or not i should get a 2nd opinion. now or later? :eek: I want to KNOW and i was dx with spasticity yesterday and i can feel it! Man can i ever feel it, b/c that is what i have been saying all along even before i knew that my muscles were spastic. the current neuro says that it is just withdrawl from the medicine that i was on and am now withdrawing from but i would think that after two weeks i would have/should have stablized. I never did, i only got worse. now granted i was on high doses of the other medicine and that will take some adjustment time but what i don't get is if this is all in my "head" :confused: then why does the medicine work so well? My neuro says that i have just forgotten what "normal" is and that i will have to retrain my body to remember what "normal" is. But from what i remember the weakness was present BEFORE i ever went on that medicine and i had such severe double vision off the medicine that i couldn't function very well (totally housebound) for over 2 weeks! then on top of that it could take several weeks before my body returns to what HE feels is NORMAL! GERRRRRRR :mad: and in the mean time i don't get to drive, i am housebound and totally incapacitated just to prove what????? :Soapbox: that he is an idiot and that he has been wrong before and he is likely wrong again!!!!! I mean, what is the point? in the mean time i miss out on jobs and possibly loose jobs that i might have other wise gotten b/c of absenteeism and severe photosenstativeity (sensitivity to light) and worst of all the nauseating doubble vison. :mad: :yikes: oh and did i mention eye pain when the strain becomes so severe that it feels like swords are sticking out of my eyes? the alternative that i see is that i could go ahead and spend the $$$ and get a second opinion and then know and put this baby to bed and then if there is something too it great, if not then ok I'll know that and can go on with life! I hate limbo land!!!! have gotten an agency that would agree to pay for an MRI so that would be covered and then i could go on with life or apply for what ever it is that i need from there! Ya'll have gotten to know me a little bit. what do ya'll think? |
Honestly Bob, a 2nd opinion certainly won't hurt you. You may find a doctor that you actually like better. And if I remember correctly this neuro you are seeing is actually an expert in another disease....
As far as getting "normal" again....no one can promise you that. No one. My doctor honestly thought I'd walk into his office 2 weeks after I got out of the hospital last year. He told me so....I was in a wheelchair and proud to be out of the house when I saw him two weeks later. Normal is a state of mind. It is NOT what other people appear to be....remember that! Normal is a state of mind! Peace. |
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Yes, absolutely get a second opinion. You've got the right to one. (more actually) I made sure to get a second opinion when I was diagnosed with MS. I still want to get another opinion on the possibility that it could be Lyme disease (I've got a history of tick bites and at least one of them was associated with a rash) I'm just waiting to save up the money for the blood tests...dont want to submit those to insurance. |
There are a number of reasons for spasticity and at least with a second opinion the doctor may focus on the reason rather than blaming spasticity on med withdrawl.
Although a second opinion won't necessarily get you out of limbo :( Here is some information about spasticity ----- http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/s...spasticity.htm |
Get a second opinion!!! I think you'll find that most of us on this board have been to several neuros, as well as other specialists.
It took two neuros to finally give me my definitive MS dx. I'm so glad I pursued that second opinion, as I, like you, was getting worse and worse. And BTW, it took four or five gastroenterologists (and five colonoscopies!) to diagnose my Crohn's Disease a few years ago. Turns out that the first four didn't do a tissue biopsy, which is crucial!! Finally the last one--the "good gastro"--did, and there was the Crohn's, plain as day. Same thing with my MS.....two neuros, and luckily the second one knew what to look for and how to find it. You've got to be proactive in your health care, and unfortunately, that often means "doctor hopping" until you find the one that will listen, take you seriously, and have the proper diagnostic tools up his sleeve! Some neuros take a "by the book" approach, while others are more like Sherlock Holmes and look at the whole picture, at every detail, and then try to investigate it. If you're lucky, you'll find one of those. It's worth the search. |
update
Hi,
Thanks for the replys. I feel so weird and torn about this second opinion thing. i am not sure if i should spend the money with no insurance it is a big decision. I talked with my neuropsycholgist friend today (late) and he said that in all likely hood it would take 30 or more days for my body to adjust to being off of the meds. so the torn part comes in with do i wait this thing out, and suffer which is inevidable, or do i try to get some answers perhaps prematurely? limbo is not a fun place to be! :confused: |
Rachael, if it was me but it's not, I would wait. Second opinions can be a good thing to get however, without insurance it can also be very expensive, as you already know.
When you have insurance (?) is the time to persue a second opinion - if one is needed. |
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