Neurology Appointment

I had my neurology appointment today.  They were a little concerned that I hadn't been there in 2 years.  They told me that they want to see me every year just to keep updated on my health status.  This appointment was originally schedule for last week, but he had to cancel because he was sick.  In order to get in as soon as I did was I had to make the appointment with his assistant and the actual doctor would be in for just a portion of the appointment.  It was a little frustrating at first because his assistant just took notes and really couldn't answer my questions.  I was relieved when Dr. Masood came in and was able to give me some answers.

I was concerned that the current treatment I am on, Copaxone isn't working.  He said the only way to tell that is to have another MRI done and see what my brain looks like so i agreed to this.  I told him I was concerned about a possible side effect. . . Copaxone could interfere with the bodies ability to fight foreign antigens, IE. cancer.  He said our bodies are very good at letting you know if something is wrong and this is not a major concern.  If I were to develop a blood borne cancer it might be a little harder to detect with a simple blood test, but my body would give me other signs that something is wrong and then a diagnosis could come from that.

I told him about my hands going numb and dropping things every once in a while.  He went through a few tests with my hands and he thinks I might have the start of carpel tunnel.  He said my hands are not as strong as they should be and this is easily correctable with minor surgery.  I told him it really isn't that big of a deal and I can live with that for the time being.

One of my major concerns is my memory.  I told him I forget things often and he asked me for some examples.  I told him Reuben will ask me about things that have happened in my past I cant recall them, I forget conversations and I need lists in order to remember things.  Reuben was at this appointment with me and they asked him what has changed with my memory.  He said, "It has been affected a lot.  It is like day and night."  WOW, I was shocked when he said this.  I know it has gotten bad, but I didn't think he noticed it as well.  They asked me about my sleep, if I was getting enough sleep and if I was dreaming because this could affect a person's memory.  I told him that I sleep great and dream often.  He told me that once we have the results of the MRI we will be able to tell if it is from MS or if it is something else that is going on.  He also scheduled me for some type of neurological memory testing that takes 4-6 hours for the test.  I will do that so we can figure out what exactly is causing my memory problems and see if we can fix it. 

I spoke with him about stairs and how it seems harder for me to go down them lately.  He checked my balance and said things look good with that so it might just be my apprehension and me thinking that I am going to fall.  It sounds like that is just in my head so I will work on letting go of the railing and seeing how that goes.

He told me to continue on the same vitamin regimen that he put me on with my initial diagnosis because a lot of the vitamins are lower in people with MS.  Once we get the results of the MRI we will go from there on determining if Copaxone is working for me or not. 

Reuben asked me tonight what my plan was if the MRI comes up with more lesions.  I told him I was going to seek alternate treatment and see how that goes.  If my brain looks the same then it I will grin and bear the injections!  Dr. Masood did remind me that there is no cure for MS.  Copaxone is a drug that is supposed to suppress some of the flare-ups, but there is no medicine that will completely take care of all of my symptoms.