Do Primary Care Physicians understand MS

[heyray]

I went to the doctor this past weekend because I couldn't seem to get rid of my cold which I think was due to my MS and my diet. I told the doctor my reasoning and he told me that the symptoms of MS has nothing to do with what I eat and the cold I had was just an ear infection. I know for a fact that what I eat triggers my MS because certain foods aggravate my symptoms causing me to get headaches and numbness throughout my limbs. By him telling me not to worry about my MS and to just eat whatever I want and to enjoy myself was laughable because how can one enjoy life when the body is not responding effectively and there's pain that is caused by all these unhealthy products in the market. I left the office scratching my head in disbelief. I didn't buy the prescriptions he gave me because I just didn't believe his diagnosis and reasoning. I know what aggravates my symptoms so I was just shocked. Has anyone else in this forum gone through a similar experience?

[MarkLavelle]

I don't think I would expect a GP to know too much about MS treatment/care, and I would never act on any MS treatment recommendations from my GP without seeing my neuro first.

But I agree that it's unlikely your cold has anything to do with MS, and I doubt your diet has much to do with it, either. Why do you think s/he's wrong about that?

[heyray]

The reason I think my ms aggravated my cold is because this has been the longest cold I had ever gotten. It lasted 1 whole month and throughout the cold I was avoiding my diet and eating everything I should not have been eating causing all my ms symptoms to comeback. I thought the cold was going to go away at some point but it never did. I'm back on my diet and finally feel a lot stronger. I know colds are probably not associated to ms but it just felt like everything was associated together specially when I ate greasy foods. I'm not going off my diet again until winter is over.

[gymbuff]

Hi heyray

I was diagnosed way back in 1988. An alternative health practitioner advised me to take Vitamin C every day, 2,000 mg and if I felt a cold coming on to up that dosage to 3 times a day for 3 days. I have been doing that since he told me and I have never got a bad cold. I occasionally get sniffles etc. but by the third day the symptoms have cleared up.

Gymbuff

[heyray]

Thanks for the input, I'm going to take a look into that and started ASAP.

[mrbarlow]

Typically a Physician /GP will have less than 1 MS patient so the likelihood is they won't know a lot about the condition. However in the UK the typical GP will assume they know everything and the patient knows nothing. In contrast my Amercian GP in the Middle East is happy to admit he doesn't know a lot, hears me out and invariably has agreed to periodic tests for serum levels such as Vit D, Uric acid, B12, zinc and Mg.

[heyray]

Good to know, I was under the impression they would know a little more than I do about ms.

[mrbarlow]

Good to know, I was under the impression they would know a little more than I do about ms.

To be fair to your average Doc they don't have the time to read up on your condition like you do. What separates out the good Docs from the Assholes is the ability to recognise this and hear the patient out.

My experience of the Public Sector Aristocrats ( Doctors) in the UK is that they are mostly condescending assholes trying to avoid any diagnosis to keep their practice profits sky high. In contrast my Amercian Docs in the Middle East are happy to listen and understand you know your condition better than them.

[civickiller]

i think its the other way around, your cold is affecting your ms. your body is using alot of energy to fight off the cold taking away from your ms energy causing some ms symptoms to return. you getting off your healthy diet and eating junk food isnt helping, its only going to prolong your cold and even less overall energy

[heyray]

That may be the case here. It's difficult to stay on my diet but this scenerio got me back on track. What ever the case I feel a lot stronger with a little fatigue. Thanks again for the input.