Thank you for the warm welcome Laura.
The CIS thing here in NZ is the sticking point. I guess we lag a little behind and when the system is free there may be some $$ issues involved. I know that even with a dx of MS you have to have had a certain qty of flairs in a certain period of time....I know some of the treatments are very costly.
I will be seeing the same neurologist so at least he will have some good knowledge of my case history.
Thank you for the point about getting treatment for the sx regardless of a dx - priceless.
Scott
Thank you Alex. Your situation does put things into perspective for me. Wow you sure did go through the ringer on your road to diagnoses. Unfortunately we don't even have a local Neuro who is an MS specialist.
So - not only did you have to wait and see but you also had to pay for the privilege. I guess I can count myself lucky that our system is free.
Appreciate your frank openness
Scott
Welcome out of the shadows and into the light where we can see you. There are many here who share your journey - the frustration of 'wait and see' is so unnecessary. The current accepted standard in the US and Canada is to treat people with Clinicially Isolated Syndrome (CIS) such as yours. You have a first episode that looks and smells like MS, so it is ok to treat it to now to stop any further progression if possible. Too bad that is not the standard yet in most of the rest of the world.
Will this be the same neuro who saw you the last time? Regardless of that, I would go prepared with a brief list of the symptoms and their chronology and hand it to the doctor. the key word is brief. Tell the neuro how this is affecting your quality of life.
Then ask to be treated ... if not for mS at least for the symptoms you have. You don't have to wait for the dx to control the other problems.
Good luck with the wait - I'm glad you are on the urgent list and not the acute one.
-Laura
It can take awhile to see a MS doctor there are so few of them. My first appointment took 8 months. Now that I am diagnose I see my MS Specialist every 16 months to three years because he is so busy and has so many patients.
To be diagnosed it took two years 5MRIs, 4 Neurologist, an Evoked Potential test, tons of blood work to rule other conditions, and a Lumbar Puncture. I had six months between appointments to see if changes developed. My first MRI showed classic MS lesions called Dawson's Fingers. The Neurologists all said I would be diagnosed with MS some day but they would not diagnose me. I thought I was being dismissed. I have found this is typical.
I spent $10,000 out of pocket in 2009 for My MRIs, Evoked Potential, and Lumbar Puncture.
Alex