need advice

[padren]

A friend of mine is having a bit of trouble, and the first thing I think most people will say will be that she needs to go to the hospital, but I am having a bit of trouble convincing her to go.

 

Last Feb, she starting having episodes where she'd pass out and when she came to she'd have severe muscle weakness and things of that nature, and a few other symptoms. She spent about 50k of her own money and lost her job while in the hospital, but none of the doctors in the large city she lived in could find anything wrong.

 

The symptoms went away, and she moved to this rural area for a good job (in the medical industry) which went sour, but she managed to get on her feet lately and has good work.

 

Unfortunately, she has episodes of blacking out, of loosing vision in her right eye off and on, loosing ability to move her right arm and leg as well as extreme muscle weakness, gets serious bouts of pressure in the right side of her head which she doesn't describe as a headache but a scary "head will explode" pressure that makes it really hard for her to think or form simple sentences, and gets serious dizzy spells. She still falls down sometimes and blacks out. She also has fairly cronic insomnia and anxiety.

 

It goes on and off, and even on bad days comes and goes, but usually when its bad it varies from really bad to tolerable but debilitating back and forth without going away.

 

She is a real mess emotionally when it happens and doesn't want anyone to know or worry about her, and really stresses about being able to work and keep her job. Its been by random chance I think that she hasn't missed too many days of work and has mostly had this happen on her off days, but it is horribly debilitating.

 

 

I am pretty scared for her, and really think she needs to go to the hospital. She had such a bad experience with the best doctors in her old metro area, that she is more than skeptical of them in this rural community. She is afraid they'll admit her and keep her without figuring anything out, run up a huge bill and that simply by going she can kiss her job goodbye for sure...which she has worked incredibly hard to get since its hard to get work in your chosen profession around here.

 

She's been debilitated for the last three days, and I doubt she would have eaten if I hadn't brought food by. I really don't know what to do. I guess I half hope if anyone has hopeful suggestions maybe I can convince her to risk going in. Again, she's been through the MRIs and suction cups on the head and all that, and all it did was break her bank and ruin her career.

[Severian]

It sounds like MS, but MS should show up in an MRI.

[lucaspa]

Does she have medical insurance? If she does, then the cost is partially covered.

 

She does need to go get checked out. But not necessarily in a hospital. She can start as an outpatient. First go to a physician. Probably an internist. She has neural symptoms but they could be due to a more systemic problem.

 

He may recommend tests, but they should be as an outpatient. She does not have to let herself be admitted to a hospital. It sounds like she would rather refuse until somebody has a diagnosis. And she has the right to do that. Of course, the internist might give her a diagnosis that means she will accept being hospitalized.

 

Let us know how this goes.

[padren]

It sounds like MS, but MS should show up in an MRI.

 

She did have the MRI in 2004, when the first round started which was clean. They didn't do a spinal tap though, if I recall a spinal tap can reveal MS earlier than an MRI

 

Does she have medical insurance? If she does' date=' then the cost is partially covered.

 

She does need to go get checked out. But not necessarily in a hospital. She can start as an outpatient.

...

Let us know how this goes.[/quote']

 

She did let me take her today, so when I was stressed enough to post this I guess she was pretty stressed too since she let me take her in. The doctor didn't know too much about this sort of condition naturally, but she now has an appointment with a neurologist thankfully, who may get both an MRI and spinal tap if needed.

 

One suggestion the doctor had was atypical migraines, which he said could cause those symptoms without actually causing the typical pain of a migraine.

 

 

I do hope the insurance pays for it, I am skeptical since the origins of her conditions date back to 04, and she has only lived in this state for a year, and insurance can be evil that way if they can justify something as pre-existing.

 

She is still very skeptical anything will be figured out by the doctors other than the final bill, but as an optimist I am really rooting for the migraine theory.

[aj47]

I had a friend who was ill for just over a year with similar symptoms and she too went to several doctors and had a few tests which all came up with nothing. Eventually she was told that she probably had 'post-viral fatigue syndrome' although they said it was a vauge diagnosis. Although I can't say for sure, in her case I think that much of her illness was psychosomatic as she's well known for her anxiety and hypochondria. Also after spending literally hundreds on alternative medicines, she finally got better while going to counseling for anxiety, although she says it was a coincidence.

[dirtyamerica]

Try to get her in for a second opinion at a different doctor. People think doctors are dieties all the while they are totally capable of mistakes, miseducation and wrongdoing.

 

I've been around people with serious medical problems that can't be explained. They have the same problem...they don't want to go back and get checked out...when it's your well-being and happiness...well that's pretty important.

 

Get her in to some one that will probably treat her differently.

 

Best wishes!

[padren]

Update: She's had more MRIs done and seen a neurologist, it looks like Chiari Malformation is the most probable cause. There are signs of it on the MRI and it fits the symptoms. She has an consultation with a neurosurgeon later this month.

 

Hopefully things go well.