Neurologists in my area (of the USA) are so far behind they are booking in to June 2024 right now. It took a month for them to even look at my referral. The call came last week and I was offered an appointment for tomorrow! They just had a new doctor join the practice.
I was diagnosed with a TIA in the emergency room on August 2. Since then, I have had 4 additional ‘episodes’, however I did not go the ER each time. I know I should have, but American healthcare… It also didn’t help that my GP questioned my diagnosis and made me feel like I was crazy or overreacting.
I don’t know what to expect from this appointment or if I will have any answers. Please send good thoughts my way!
Wow, so you’ve had 3 more since your initial posts, and your GP is still not accepting the original diagnosis from the hospital. I sincerely hope and pray the Neurologist gives you more clarity as to what is going on and can help you going forward
I’m sure we would all love for your GP to right, naturally, and that this is something more easily fixable for you. But if they confirm the hospital diagnosis then you definitely need to switch your GP. Are you back at work now?
Good Luck and all the best for tomorrow
That sounds so awful compared to the UK but I assume you can ask for different referrals? As @EmeraldEyes says push the neurologist to sort out your bloomin rubbish GP!! A TIA is a brain trauma as you know and I’m sure your GP does too.
Have you had CT or MRIs?
Anyway forget that and focus on tomo!!
Let us know how you get on
Sending you lots of good good thoughts and here is a picture of a polar bear to cheer you up!!
@EmeraldEyes Oh my GP has really been so unhelpful! As of October 1st, I will have a new GP. My partner has been her patient for about 5 years and has been encouraging me to switch for a while because she has been so fantastic in helping him with his health issues. So I have sorted that out, at least.
I have been at work since school started again, and it’s been tiring. I’ve found that if I don’t write everything down I forget tasks. My last episode happened at work though! Thankfully it was a planning period with my colleagues and not during a class. It was a Friday, I had the weekend to recover, and was back at it Monday. My leadership team is very supportive of anything I need, and I think working is a good thing for me.
All I can hope is that I will have some reassurance and answers, or at least a path forward. Thank you for your encouragement and I will update when I have information!
@KGB Nice polar bear!
We can ask our doctors to refer us to a different place, but the few neurology practices near me are all booking out into at least April 2024. I could go anywhere I want if I choose, but that would mean no insurance coverage.
To give you an idea of costs here, my stay in the Emergency Room cost nearly $12000. That included CT scan, MRI, EKG, blood/urine tests, and the consults. My insurance coverage meant that my out-of-pocket cost is $200. This is why we have so many Americans that must declare bankruptcy due to medical debt or they simply are not able to seek the care they need and deserve.
As expected, those scans were clear and other testing was all good. As I replied to Emerald Eyes, I will have a new GP on October 1.
There have been posts on Reddit of people’s med cost after stroke.
9m & 21m USD were two for hemorrhagic stroke w/ ICU & operation theatre costs.
An 11hr stay & heli-transfer was 11k & 14k = 25k
The hemorrhages were young folk who declare bankruptcy as paying was impossible
@SimonInEdinburgh and @KGB the costs are absolutely debilitating for so many. A simple, non-complicated childbirth is minimum $30k. If one does not have health insurance it’s terrible. I am grateful that my insurance is excellent by most standards and is paid completely by my employer, which is VERY unusual.
Well I have an unexpected update from neurology.
After a very thorough visit with an excellent neurologist (specifically specializing in stroke) it is confirmed that I did not have a TIA/stroke. I suppose that is good news!
However, there are lesions on my brain that will require a different neurologist in the practice as well as additional imaging and tests. It could be many things, but based on the currently available information her first instinct was to suggest multiple sclerosis. I was floored. Not anything I expected at all. It’s not at all a definitive diagnosis, but even the suggestion is shocking to me.
So now I will wait for the testing and analyses of results. I appreciate all the support I have received in this forum; you are truly some the kindest folks on the Internet!
-Ruth
Wow indeed, we can only hope and pray for a much better diagnosis. There are a number of things that can cause brain lesions that are not progressive, so here’s hoping the neurologist’s instinct is wrong.
Stay positive and crack on with living, you haven’t any definite diagnosis yet! MS is one that can be hard to diagnose as some of the symptoms can be quite vague or similar to other conditions. so it could just as well be ruled out yet too
