Scale - 10 is worst
Weather - Cool and Cloudy
Weather - Cool and Cloudy
Shaking - 7
Neck Pain - 5
Upper Back Pain - 8
Fatigue - 5
Foggy Head - 5
Tinitus - 5
Ears Full - 5
Hand Numb - 4
Good meeting with the GP this morning. She said that the last communciation that she had from the neurologist was December 5th, and it indicated a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. I went through the history, and how almost 7 months have gone by and there's still no treatment plan and the symptoms are still the same. When I outlined that the Dr. Bowman, the neurologist at Raleigh Neurology told me that it wasn't MS and that they weren't going to treat it as such, she said "Its time to get another neurologist". She mentioned that the conginitive testing that is scheduled for the 13th is critical to understand what's going on. Related that the testing was very elegant and can identify damage and impairment to sections of the brain and nervous system. It would have been nice if Dr. Bowman could have explained that to me, not just that cognitive functioning loss wasn't a key symptom of MS. Anyway, here's the plan that the GP is going to help with:
1) Will call Bowman to get his latest notes for my file. Will discuss the diagnosis. Will discuss trying to get the appointment moved up quicker from the end of the month with his associate.
2) Will try to line up a visit to a psychiatrist so we can get started on medication to help me with cognitive loss and the pain stuff so I can at least feel better. She said that the "disease" is probably causing some symptoms (like fatigue and inability to focus) that can be treated by a psychiatrist. At any rate, I'll need one involved at some point in the process to integrate the treatment.
3) Wait for the follow-up with Bowman's associate for an "in-practice" second opinion. She said that he'll either agree with Bowman or not. If he agrees, then she'll give me a referral to Duke. If he doesn't agree, if he thinks its MS, then he should treat it, and the related symptoms. If its outside his scope, then he'll probably give me a referral to Duke on his own.
4) Come back to her for a follow-up in the first week in March to make sure we're making progress.
Nice lady. I felt like she understood my situation and my frustration.
In the course of the discussion, it became apparent that this is going to take more time - significantly more time. I don't have a problem with that, as long as we're makeing headway towards a diagnosis and a treatment plan, and I can get something (anything) that makes me feel better. So right now, the best I can do is hold out for the meeting at the end of the month to get the second opinion.
Shit.
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