RE: doctors....

Ann.Lindstrom(AT)octel.com
Thu, 9 Oct 1997 09:58:15 -0700

Sharon - What a bummer that your primary care physician gave you the
brush-off. This is hard enough to deal with without that. It may be
that he is totally out of his league and uncomfortable with all of this.
My primary has been great, but he needed to educate himself a bit to
understand what is going on. I too have been on the cusp between
myelitis and MS. The doctors are starting to lean toward MS for me, but
it takes them forever to decide. Just a warning - the spinal tap may
not be conclusive, but if it does indicate MS, at least the doctors are
more familiar with that diagnosis. Also family and friends have heard
of it before. MS can be fairly mild. If that is your diagnosis, you
can go many years without another attack, and the attacks can be mild
too.

> ----------
> From: Marsden51(AT)aol.com[SMTP:Marsden51(AT)aol.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 1997 7:53 PM
> To: tmic-list(AT)eskimo.com
> Subject: doctors....
>
> Hi all:
>
> I had my initial TM attack on Labor Day Weekend. I have only written
> to the
> list a few times.
>
> I saw my primary care physician yesterday for the first time since
> seeing the
> neurologist and he basically brushed me off and discounted my
> symptoms. He
> has always been a great doctor before and I am so upset with him now.
> I
> can't understand why he would act like this toward me. When I told
> him about
> my difficulty walking, he said I needed to walk more for exercise.
> When I
> told him about the trembling in my arm, he ignored it. He also wanted
> to
> prescribe fenfluermine (spelling?), the part of Phen-Fen that is still
> on the
> market. I guess he feels all of my complaints will go away if I lose
> weight.
> I told him that I wasn't interested. He said he was surprised at the
> diagnosis of TM. I told him the neurologist talked to me about the
> possibility of having MS. He was quickly heading out the door, turned
> and
> frowned at me, then said "I know, I read his notes. It doesn't fit
> the
> pattern." And with that he was gone. I can't believe he dismissed me
> like
> that!
>
> The neurologist called me yesterday and I told him about my current
> concerns.
> He decided to schedule me for an MRI. He said we may have to go
> ahead and
> do a lumbar puncture after that. I really do want to find out exactly
> what
> is causing my problems. But, on the other hand I am afraid to go on.
> Does
> that even make sense?
>
> This is such a scary thing. How do you all cope?
>
> Sharon M.
>