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Hello everyone! So I have been seeing an Ophthalmologist for about a month due to Optic Neuritis. I have been waiting for my new insurance to kick in to schedule and MRI, but now the wait is over and after my insurance approves it I will finally have an appointment. I have a few questions, though!

I'm kind of afraid that my Ophthalmologist isn't who I should be seeing? He's a great guy, and seems very knowledgeable about ON, but I'm not sure at what point I should start asking about seeing a neurologist? It's all just super confusing. He of course hasn't asked me about any other symptoms and has only done an eye exam. Should I start asking if the MRI comes up abnormal or should I ask sooner? The thing I think that scared me a bit about just seeing him is that the awesome lady who was working with my insurance company to schedule my MRI tried to get me to go to an open MRI, and had no idea that there was a difference. I ended up tracking down a 3 tesla MRI in our area (there's only 1!), and pushed to have my MRI there instead. I'm a little afraid that they won't follow the protocol that is recommended for MS due to a lack of knowledge, and that I'll have to pay to have this done again (we pay 10% of imaging) and I just don't have a lot of money and what to do it right the first time.

There are a few other things I'm concerned about. One, half of my face is numb- not enough to cause paralysis, but enough to feel incredibly strange, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Two, I have a history of pretty serious depression, though it's never been diagnosed. Including thoughts of suicide. Three, for the past few years I have been having lower back pain on just one side that at times is so severe I can barely move. I have told my Ophthalmologist about the numbness in my face, which seemed to concern him, but not about the other two though now I wonder if they are related after spending hours scaring the crap out of myself on the internet LOL.

Anyway, I would appreciate any thoughts on this and any input would be awesome. Everyone around me (my Husband, and family) says "No! You don't have MS", but deep inside I know it's a very real possibility.

hi and welcome favabean sorry to hear you are having a tough time.
have any of your docs referred you to a dietitian or nutritionist? has anyone analysed your diet/lifestyle for any possible contributions to chronic pain, numbness, emotional and/or vision issues?

Hi Fava. A Neurologist won't be able to do much for you without the MRI results. They would look at you and say you need an MRI. In my case, my primary doc ordered the MRI and then referred me to a Neuro based on the findings. Try to take one step at a time and not get ahead of yourself. Good luck.

kromer wrote:Hi Fava. A Neurologist won't be able to do much for you without the MRI results. They would look at you and say you need an MRI. In my case, my primary doc ordered the MRI and then referred me to a Neuro based on the findings. Try to take one step at a time and not get ahead of yourself. Good luck.

Thank you for the input- I do have problems with getting ahead of myself- I try so hard to be proactive I'm always putting the cart in front of the horse Good to know, though, what I can probably expect after the MRI.

jimmylegs wrote:hi and welcome favabean sorry to hear you are having a tough time.
have any of your docs referred you to a dietitian or nutritionist? has anyone analysed your diet/lifestyle for any possible contributions to chronic pain, numbness, emotional and/or vision issues?

No, I have only been to the Ophthalmologist so far, and haven't brought any of the other issues up with him. I have JUST gotten insurance for the first time in my adult life, so I have a lot of catching up to do! I have been doing a ton of reading, though, on ways I can improve my diet to help out with things, especially depression. I was a vegetarian from age 12-21, and I've been a pescatarian for the past 9 years and eat a lot of veggies and fruit with not a lot of junk (though they'll have to pry my coffee out of my cold, dead hands ). So it's definitely something I'm interested in learning more about. I read some of your other posts, and they're really interesting!

great to hear back fava, based on what you've said I am confident that there will be ALL KINDS of useful steps you can take to evaluate your nutritional status and take any appropriate action based on findings.

glad you have found some of the posts interesting.. if you haven't read it yet, I'm an ex vegan so to a certain degree we've got some food history in common