Newly Diagnosed

Hello, may I ask for advice about the process of diagnosis?

I'm 48 and 10 days ago, when I broke into a run one afternoon, my leg gave way underneath me and I fell over. There was no pain in the leg, just a feeling of weakness. After the fall I started to feel dizzy and nauseous, and from the next day there was stiffness and numbness in my lower legs, a sort of light floaty feeling in my arms and rolling, quite strong, waves of tingling going through all my limbs. My head feels odd, as if the world is spinning slowly, my balance seems off and I keep doing slightly clumsy things and dropping things. I have to go to bed early as I feel so tired, and I don't think my cognition is great either, I seem to struggle to find the right word sometimes, although both these things have been going on for a few years and I thought were just age-related.

I rang my GP four days ago when tingling, numbness and dizziness had not gone away, having googled them, knowing very little about MS, and discovering that they seem typical of the condition, but he said he didn't think anything I had said was suggestive of MS. I don't know how to proceed - should I ask for a private referral to a neurologist? I don't have private healthcare and don't like the idea of it but I would be so relieved to talk to an expert who believed me. I've put myself on the OMS diet - not too hard for me as I haven't eaten meat since I was a child, and have been avoiding dairy, although not to exclusion, for several years.

I found a reference to a patient needing to have had two flare-ups for MS to be diagnosed in the UK, does anyone know if this is the case? I'm in London, England. Thank you all in advance.

Hi Camilla

Sorry to hear you are experiencing this. MS is a really difficult condition to diagnose due to the huge raft of symptoms associated with it. No two people will ever experience the same symptoms in exactly the same order.

I personally had a relatively easy diagnosis, my first symptom being optic neuritis. 50% of people who experience optic neuritis go on to develop MS, so when I started experienceing numbness and tingling a few months later, MS was confirmed. However, there will be many people on this site who had much more difficult journeys to diagnosis, I'm afraid.

Starting on OMS and takng control of your health is exactly the right thing to do, but do not assume that you have MS. Many MS symptoms can be attributed to other conditions. Having said that, I would try and speak to a neurologist, as GPs don't necessarily have the necessary knowledge to understand MS. Many GPs will never actualy work with an MS patient. If nothing else, this will hopefully put your mind at rest.


Sorry not to be of more help.
Rachel

Thank you very much for your reply Rachel. I think I'm going to wait and see if the signs calm down before I try to see a neurologist - I know the mind can seize hold of ideas and run with them, so the symptoms could be psychosomatic. Also, 48 doesn't seem a typical age to develop MS, as far as I can see, although I'm no expert. I'm going to step away from the googling - regardless of whether I have MS or not I've been incredibly impressed by this website and everything it offers so I'm going to try to follow the meditations, exercise etc. Thank you for your kind reply.

The good thing about following the OMS steps is that they're not just good for MS. You're lowering your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and all of the western illnesses.

I had a GP who kept saying that I didn't have MS and was only sent to a neurologist because my dad had MS and I would worry until it was proved that I didn't have it. If you want to push it further this might be an avenue - if you say that it's causing you stress because you think that you have MS, then they might try to rule it out.

That's really interesting Geoff - obviously GPs vary greatly in how they respond. Mine said there is no genetic factor in MS, which is not what the data seems to say. I totally agree about how the OMS diet is good for everyone - and my children are now eating stir-fried and roasted vegetables that have been done water not oil and no one has noticed! It feels very positive to me. Thank you for your reply, and I'll post again if I go ahead with seeing a neurologist.