More Neuro and the MS Nurse

Neurologists are quite amazing. They can tell a great deal about what is going on in your brain from other parts of your body!

Some of the tests that they perform see most peculiar... here's a small selection:

• walk along a 'line' putting your feet one in front of the other, heel to toe touching (I've seen US Cops on TV shows using this as a test for drunk drivers!)
• standing with your feet together with your eyes closed (the point being, I believe to see if you fall over!)
• sitting with your eyes closed and arms outstretched and touching your fingers to the tip of your nose
• sitting and running the heel of one foot down the leg from knee to foot on the other leg
• using a tuning fork and pressing the vibrating fork on your skull
• using pins (ouch) or feathers to test sensory perception
• running a sharp object down the sole of your foot
  
• getting you to resist pressure with arms and legs
• the good old rubber hammer and reflex test

Over the years I have both passed and failed many of these tests. It gets more depressing as time goes on and you a) know the expected response and b) fail.

The relapses and firm diagnosis also brought a new medical professional to the growing crowd of my experience. My MS Nurse.

MS Nurses in the UK are rather hit and miss, and seems to be one of those 'postcode lottery' type things. I am very lucky. My Nurse is completely amazing. Always available at the end of the phone, highly trained and extremely knowledgeable... I can't imagine how I'd have managed all these years without her. She is much easier to get an appointment to see than the Neuro and her office is right next door, so she can always pop in and see 'himself'.

Next - Remission and Relapse