I had a fantastic appointment with my neurologist today. She’s kind of old school, but damn, she knows her stuff. We went through my entire history, which took about 45 minutes. She told me not to worry about the time because I had an hour appointment and then she had some time until her next one. Who does that anymore? I was telling her about always being wiped out and how I felt. She asked a question I couldn’t answer. She asked if I had ever been tested for allergies to the medication I’m on. She said that could certainly explain some of the side effects I have with both the Avonex and Rebif.
She also explained why so many doctors are keen on prescribing one of the key therapies for MS. A lot of doctors are on the payroll of the drug companies as speakers. She said that she won’t do that because she believes its a conflict of interest. Wow. She said that the MS therapies are used to smooth out the bumps in a rocky road and that sometimes you have to have a rocky road to smooth out. She’s not so sure that the injections are really helping me.
What really impressed me was just how focused she was on my history. So many things that I mentioned showed patterns. No other doctor has ever asked these things before, and it was incredible how she put the pieces together.
So now we’re going to chase down some old medical records and see what more we can do.