Doc Updates · 9:47am Oct 4th, 2012
Okay, doctor’s appointments were interesting.
The neuro doc seems to think these are persistent migraines, and prescribed a medicine designed to prevent them. I find this to be reasonable.
The NWM doctor I took a different approach with. Since mentioning possibilities biases people towards that conclusion, I just told her the symptoms and let her lead the conversation and questioning. When I mentioned the tingling, her attitude changed. She gave me a neurological exam, and seemed to relax a bit, but still wanted an MRI and MRA of my brain and the blood vessels, respectively.
Her take on the headaches is that I might be getting rebound headaches from the pain medications I’ve been taking. Although a reasonable diagnosis, I’m leading towards the neuro doc’s take on the headaches. I avoid the pain meds when I can and never took high doses of them. She prescribed a different pain medication used to combat rebound headaches.
That having been said, with an MRI order and her behavior when I mentioned the tingling, it’s likely she was worried about the same thing I am: possible MS. She never mentioned this, which is exactly the right thing to do (otherwise you might needlessly worry the patient... heh, too late for me!) The symptoms just line up so eerily well, that personally, if I was to place bets, it'd be on the source of the tingling issues being MS.
One advantage is that this hospital does have a 3 Telsa MRI machine, and the order was for contrast to be used. If I do have MS, this machine will find it. The condition can hide from weak open MRIs but not from a machine like that. This complicates matters, though. If I do have it, it would be best to be undiagnosed until I get into Canada. If it finds it, there’s no way I can move up. So I’m making a huge roll of the dice here that I’m still not sure I want to. The only advantage to finding out now is starting medication early, because if I respond well to it I could delay the symptoms from reappearing in any major way for many, many years.
There is also another complication. I now have three different doctor’s opinions and I really don’t want to ruin the relationship I have with my main doc. Even if he’s wrong about the current things, he’s been a highly responsive and attentive doctor, and is widely available. If the MRI finds something, I’ll have to tell him about this, and I’m not looking forward to this conversation.
The other conflict is that the neuro doc’s advice and the NWM doc’s advice are mutually exclusive. I can only take one of these medicines. I’m going to have to figure out which route to take. (Naturally, though, if one fails, I can switch to the other.) It’s honestly tempting to have the conversation with my main doc right now and get his advice on which between the two to follow, or go to my old doc and ask him. (The old doc is nice enough but takes some time to get in to, and he normally treats much older patients.)
The worst complication is not being able to move to Canada, of course. I miss my wife, and I desperately want to be with her. She's been so encouraging and supportive, and that gives me great comfort. She's amazing. If I go undiagnosed, I have a chance of going up there, but at the cost of delaying treatment... I'm just... at a loss here.
-Cv
... I don't really know what advice I can offer. Either way, you sacrifice something. It's not really my place to ask, but if you decide to wait for the diagnosis, and it comes out that you're positive for MS, would that just delay your move to Canada - and if so, for how long? Or would it prevent your move entirely? Personally, I'd be inclined to move before the diagnosis, but I'm not the biggest fan of modern medicine; and I also lack a lot of life experience. On that note however - and it is awfully presumptuous of me to say this - assuming that you do preempt your diagnosis and move up to Canada, thus forsaking earlier treatment and potentially preventing future complications, would your wife want you to do that to yourself?
That probably didn't help you any... But I hope that it isn't anything bad, and I hope that everything works out for you. Sorry that I can't be of much help, mate.
401593
Normally my wife and I talk each night but last night I was up since 8PM the previous night and I had to go to sleep. I was out like a light and slept like a log. Woke up just a little bit ago.
Before I schedule the tests, I intend to talk to her and get her thoughts. It might be my health, but her happiness is the most important thing to me.
Also, having MS would completely deny me the ability to move to Canada, forever, no matter how bad or mild the symptoms are.
Dude, you just can't win can you? I'm keeping you in my prayers.
So... should you not be able to move to Canada, would your wife move back to where you are?
401603 Oh, no...