went for my annual checkupand would treat the new symptom as

[pamgarner]

my regular dr informed me this is the approach gp take with ms patients with new symptoms.they would act like the patient doesn't have ms. and treat the new symptom as they would another person and give them that treatment(s)if those do not work they can say it probably is your ms,makes sense to me and he told me 2 virtual visits from neurologist back to back is not acceptable that is what is happening to me,they need to see you and have hands on,and check progression

[kdali]

Yes!

[RoyceNewton]

sounds like a very good way of treating you, they are doctors afterall

[pamgarner in reply to RoyceNewton]

common sense to me,but then you are back in the game of process of elimination geewhiz!

[Tinker-Belle]

I had a doctor tell me once that he would treat the symptoms, not the MRI. I liked that. Rather than assuming life is horrible...or perfect...go after treating what ails the person. Made sense to me.

[erash]

Hmmm...I think you should approach symptoms armed with the history of the patient, individualize care, not treat textbook.

Analogy: person with history of a brain tumor complains of a headache. My differentials, tests, treatment are going to be different than treating a headache in a generally healthy person.

Apologies if I’m misunderstanding your GPs comment 🤷‍♀️

[pamgarner in reply to erash]

you are correct,it is looking at the whole person and not just symptoms,i guess i didn't clarify..his point is the treatment should leave ms,out of the equation on new symptoms until,there are no answers except for ms.

[goatgal]

These so called virtual visits, especially those that are telephone only, don't seem to be very useful to most patients. They may check off boxes for clinics and insurers, but they aren't helpful in my experience.

[pamgarner in reply to goatgal]

got that right!my opinion useless other than getting your dr on the telephone which is usually impossible

[cindyrn68 in reply to goatgal]

My last MS appointment was a telehealth visit. My doctor hated it! She said she needs to put hands on her patients.

[pamgarner in reply to cindyrn68]

so who is making the decisions to do it,insurance companies?????urrrgghhh!!!!

[cindyrn68 in reply to pamgarner]

The medical university decided to do routine follow ups via telehealth to keep all of us immunocompromised folks from congregating in a waiting room. It makes sense but makes assessment nearly impossible.

[mrsmike9 in reply to goatgal]

I'm (knock wood) fairly stable so my last appointment was via Zoom, or the like. It was fine. My next is in person.

[melack01]

My last neurologist appointment was by phone, the one tomorrow is a video call. If my next appointment is an office one it will be the first time I've seen him in 2 years. I have some subtle and not so subtle differences since he saw me that are not easy to explain that are probably apparent in person. Besides with the cognitive issues I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the video appointment without tuning out.

[JTZES]

Me and my PCP have kinda set this to know when to call him or the Neurologist. I call him if I'm running a fever or having symptoms like a cold allergy or flu like symptoms.

If I don’t have any of those issues then call my Neurologist. It has worked well so far.

[pamgarner]

it is great that kind of relationship with your dr

[mrsmike9]

Sounds like he's on top of it!