EStevens64

Dont feel too bad. There are just some idiot neuro's out there with the bedside manner of a rock. I went through the same thing with mine. He tells me he suspects MS strongly then when the MRI comes back normal (had only been experiencing symptoms for a few days and was in my second attack of confirmed Optic Neuritis)a week later he said it wasnt MS and he didnt know what it was. Now I am sitting in a chair and had to have help getting in there because I couldnt walk! My legs were numb and wouldnt do as they were told and my arms were so weak I couldnt hold them up to drive. ...I was game, ok...not ms, fine then what. He only could say he didnt know. I asked if there were other tests beside the MRI. He said no and that short of an autopsy he didnt know what else would. To be honest I was pretty hopped up on steroids ( my 3 day of IV therapy ) and would have, if I had been able... gotten up and walked out! But I waited patiently for them to finish my therapy and then left. He followed up with a letter to my GP and advised him that he thought that the symptoms were in my head! Luckily my GP has known me and been my Dr since I was 13 (now 40) and knows that I am not a hypercondriac. Lol...heck I am the one that told him I had meningitis... went to the hospital...guess what..meningitis! He is the one that was very active in me changing Dr's and finding a good one. He has a brother and sister with MS and is very familiar with the disease. He also examined me a few months later during another attack and my left leg (the one that was numb at the time had diminished reflexes and my right practically kicked the heck out of him when he tested it.

Keep pushing on... If you dont feel the neuro is taking you seriously ( and many dont if the MRI doesnt jump right out and yell MS ) keep finding another. I even told mine. I had another attack of optic neuritis last month and I was still waiting to get in to the MS specialist and the eye dr said it cant wait even a couple of weeks ( I am going blind in my left eye due to so many attacks and little recovery). I had to go back to the jerk! lol but I advised him that I will be taking the IVIG therapy and I am changing Doctors. I told him I wasnt willing to go blind and be under an attack every other month while he waits for my mri film to scream at him and I was certainly NOT going to be providing him with an autopsy!

A good neuro will want you to educate yourself. I certainly did. I even checked in to what all could be causing my symptoms and what tests needed to be done to rule them out. I went to a rheumotologist and ruled out lupus. Had every blood test known to man to rule out everything else.

I am finally getting in to the MS Specialist. I am hoping he has some ideas. I know that there is more testing to be done besides the MRI and I also know that there are some of us lucky souls that will have smaller lesions that are harder to pick up. My symptoms are relatively new. Prior to October 2004 I had nothing other than a previous bout of really bad blurred vision a few months before so I believe I am in the very early stages as does my GP.

Dont let one arrogant jerk deterr you from being informed. Nobody wants MS, but the limbo is the worst. Atleast if you can put a name on it you can move on to what is next.