Well since there is no real field guide to MS, I decided to write one based on my experience, so here is the beginning.
Chapter One: Getting a Diagnosis
Chapter one is one of the most difficult to concur for some, for others it comes instantly as a shock.
My experience was not a shock as I had suspected it for a long time. For some the diagnosis is made over many years, a frustrating process with many tears along the way. It begins with an odd sensation, a feeling of weakness on one side of your body, or perhaps double vision for a day or two. There are so many things looking back that I now know were warning signs. So you go to a doctor after a few weird episodes, the doctor does a basic blood test and tells you that everything's fine. You probably believe him/her since you feel fine now.
Then a year or two passes when all the sudden you begin to get clumsy, your legs are heavy and seems that all of your energy has been zapped by some extra-terrestrial or something. Go back to the doctor who runs same tests, says you are fine, but this time you aren't quite sure that he has done everything. He/She orders an MRI, tells you its normal, your symptoms start to resolve, so you go on with your merry life.
Then one day you can hardly walk, your vision is a little off, unable to think clearly and weakness on one side. How scary. Go back to your doctor, who begrudgingly tells you he will send you to a neurologist, but maybe you are just depressed. (yeah right!!!!) Neuro does some tests, sees some neurological defecits, orders MRI, sees some areas that could be lesions from MS, but not definite. Orders a slew of other tests including a lumbar puncture, but still not calling it MS. How frustrating, makes you want to scream.
After a slow recovery, never feeling quite the same, you develop some new symptoms along with a re-occurring of the old. This time doctor sends you straight to Neuro or MS specialist and voila........Now after a journey that has occured over the span of a few years, you now have a diagnosis. The first feeling is of relief "I am not crazy after all", then it sinks in "Oh snap, I have MS!!!!"
The "luckier" people will have one episode of optic neuritis (loss of vision, double vision, or other weird vision problem), get an MRI which shows enhancing lesions and get diagnosed right away. These people have the "Oh snap, I have MS" dialogue right away without all the scars provided by all the doctors along the way.
http://www.muschealth.com/ms/about_ms/diagnosingms.htm
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