The road to diagnosis for MS can be long and winding for many patients. I’m happy for patients who receive their official diagnosis within just a few doctors’ visits. Not happy that they have MS, but happy that they can jump right in and get on with things; attacking the beast with medication, therapy, and determination.
For those of us who are not immediately diagnosed with MS, the feelings involved with the ‘not knowing for sure’ can be frustrating. Especially disturbing is when you suspect that your doctors do not believe you or your symptoms. The worst part may be when there is some clinical evidence that ‘something’ is not quite right, maybe there are lesions in the brain and obvious neurological symptoms, but your tests do not meet the standard diagnostic criteria for an official MS diagnosis.
That’s when the waiting game begins.
I was one of those patients who didn’t receive an immediate diagnosis. In fact, it took more than five years from what was my first obvious and debilitating attack (blinding optic neuritis) to the relapse that prompted additional testing that led to a diagnosis.
Read this post in its entirety:
What Is It Like to NOT be Diagnosed with MS?
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