This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hi,
My name is Stephanie. I'm from California/Alaska, but have spent the past nine years living overseas. I am 47 years old and I was diagnosed Dec. 1st after an MRI following partial loss of vision in one eye. I had seen an ophthamologist in Jakarta who told me nothing was wrong with my eyes, that it was all in my head. (Don't you love it?) I've had symptoms off and on for several years, always attributed to "pinched nerves" that I saw chiropractors for, without results. Now I know they are Lehrmitts sign. I also had a heat-lamp sesation burning my back for about three months last year, and routinely have one leg go numb about 20 minutes into my treadmill workout. I've certainly started dropping things over the past year, and fatigue is a constant, and has been for several years... Who knows how long this has been going on. Can they tell by the number of lesions in your MRI? Can they "date" them?

As soon as they saw the MRI, I had I.V. pred for five days in a hospital in Singapore, and just at the end of my two week oral pred course after the hospital, I developed sustained unremitting paroxismal atrial fibrillation. After three nights in a row in emergency rooms with a heart rate of 180 BPM, I went back into the hospital, got it medicated down to normal, and went back to teaching second grade in Jakarta. Ever hear of this? I had intermittent arhythmias for five years, but never for more than a few minutes. December 18th, they kicked in an wouldn't quit.
I leave next week for appoinments at UCSF with the MS center and cardiologist, at which point I will explore treatment regimens. The Singapore Neuro couldn't/wouldn't prescribe anything except Methycobal because he's only ever seen half a dozen cases over here, and he referred me back to the States. Reading some of these postings I am wondering if I should have had them send me to Europe instead!? Any idea what I am likely to encounter at UCSF?
I'll be looking for advice...
Steph

Rebif will mail you the drugs, although I'm not sure about overseas. I overheard that MSLifelines (Rebifs little phone support place) has outsourced their prescriptions to Curascript.

Also, Walgreens has a "Specialty Pharmacy" for people with MS and other diseases like that. Via their web site I've got the option to have them ship me my prescriptions - but again I don't know about overseas.



That desribes me. I've had so many different monitors, treadmill tests, yada yada yada. Best the cardiologist came up with is "You have an extra beat, it should be ok".

Hi Stephanie, welcome to the site... it's wonderful to have you with us and we wish you good health.

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Disclaimer: Any information you find on this site should not be considered medical advice. All decisions should be made with the consent of your doctor, otherwise you are at your own risk.